under which they resemble an earthworm. They exhibit considerable vivacity out of the water, and have all the appearance of horsehairs, with the wriggling movement of eels. F. C. H. Sincere (1st S. viii. 195. 328. 399. 567.; xii. 292.)-I beg to offer another derivation of this word, which seems to me more probable than those yet offered. Is it not connected with the Latin sancire, to make sacred, or rather an older form sancere, which is implied in the perfect sanxi, and participle sanctum? I and a appear to have interchanged in Latin, confer tango and contingo, pango and impingo. The true meaning of sincerus would then be one who holds his word sacred; and could any explanation of the word be more appropriate? And as to the termination -ērus, the Greek has two terminations very similar, -ηρης and -ερος : as τειχήρης and στυγερός. The derivation from semel and кepávvvu must be erroneous, for can any true Latin word, at least of good Latinity, be brought forward compounded of Latin and Greek together? TAU. The Termination Ness (1st S. ix. 522. ; 2nd S. vi. 443.) I am greatly obliged to MR. PISHEY THOMPSON for bringing my attention to the erroneous statement contained in the Note to which his observations apply. The table referred to by your correspondent was, by mistake, interpolated by the printer, instead of standing by itself, as a separate article, and it has no reference at all to the termination -ness, in the names of places, but to the termination -by, as is evident from the introductory remark, that it offers a more extended view of the question than is given in Vol. IX. p. 136. I regret being obliged to occupy your pages with an erratum, but the blunder was not mine. I may add that I have now before me a list of 192 places in Lincolnshire which are characterised by the suffix -by. WM. MATTHews. Cowgill. English Flag (2nd S. vi. 373.)-As no correspondent has yet given any reply to the Queries on this subject, I give what information I possess concerning one Query, that relating to the three squadrons, red, white, and blue. I cannot say when the three flags came into use, but they existed in the time of Charles II., for in Eliot Warburton's Memoirs of Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers (Bentley, 1849, vol. iii. p. 483.), Prince Rupert says in his narrative, "I must not forbear to tell you my judgement that the blue squadron was in that action guilty of a great miscarriage." This was in 1666. Again, at p. 502: "The prince put forth the red flag at the foretopmast head; for what purpose is not said, but it may have been his flag as admiral. I have also a Query to ask at page 501. of the same volume occurs:-"We loosed our fore topsail and weighed and hoisted the Union flag at the mizen peak, which is the signal to sail on towards the enemy." Does this signal still exist with the same meaning? TAU. Can there be any reason to doubt that the English and Scotch flags before the accession of James I. (of England) bore the cross of St. George and St. Andrew respectively? The blazon of the former would be of course argent, a cross gules, and of the latter azure, a saltire argent. It is sufficiently understood that the combination of these two ensigns constitutes the "Union Jack" of Great Britain, which received an augmentation by the introduction of the saltire gules, when Ireland became a member of the United Kingdom. R. S. Q. Sir Thomas Cambell, Knight (2nd S. vi. 442.)— In an account of the Ironmongers' Company, compiled from the company's records by John Nicholl, F.S.A. in 1851, it is stated that the Lord Mayor Sir James, was son of the Lord Mayor Sir Thomas, and the latter son of "Robert Cambell of Fulsam, Norfolk." Their armorial bearings are in the Harl. MSS. 5810 and 5869. Reference to the Company's Freedom Book, or at Guildhall, will probably prove the statement. I have an autograph of Sir James, and can forward a tracing to C. S. if he wishes. J. CALVER. English Mode of pronouncing Greek and Latin (2nd S. vi. 167. 249. 267. 313. 464.)- May I call the attention of your correspondents to the valuable remarks upon this subject in the Edinburgh Review of Kelsall's Translation of Cicero, 1812, and of Angus' Demosthenes, 1820? These articles were written by Lord Brougham, and are reprinted in the first vol. of his Contributions to the Edinburgh Review. See pp. 22. and 57. E. P. L. Miscellaneous. NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC. Oh rare Bartlemy Fair! It were not fitting that this, one of the long-established institutions of the country, should cease and leave not a wrack behind. It has found an honest chronicler in Mr. Morley, whose Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair, with Facsimile Drawings, engraved upon Wood, by the Brothers Dalziel, is a handsome and interesting record of this ancient combination of mart and revel. What in the hands of a mere Dryasdust would have been a book full of tedious details, is by the skill of the biographer of Palissy and Paracelsus worked up into a series of vivid pictures of our social life in days gone by. The citizen of London may turn over Mr. Morley's pages with delight, as he contemplates in it that writer's characteristic sketches of this, one of the ancient glories of the Metropolis; while the general reader will peruse with no less interest the author's graphic descriptions of the justs and tournaments, the burnings of martyrs, the church processions, the executions of criminals of high and low degree, the miracle-plays and the puppet-shows, which Smithfield has seen since Rayer first founded the Priory, and got the grant of a Fair for its support. Shrewd, just, and loving are Mr. Morley's criticisms upon Ben Jonson - the noblest chronicler that ever Fair could boast of; quaint and picturesque are Mr. Morley's translations from the old records of "Brother Cok, the Treasurer;" and very apt are his parallels between the tricks of the posture-masters who exhibited in the first days of the fair, and those who figured in the crazy booths when its glories were departing. The book is indeed thoroughly genial, and worthy of the subject; and with this summary of its merits we must draw to a close our notice of a volume which is beautifully got up, and contains in it so much that is calculated to amuse readers of all classes. Surnames seem to be exciting as much interest on the other side of the Atlantic as on this. Mr. N. J. Bowditch, a learned and witty barrister of the United States, has just published a volume upon the subject, entitled Suffolk Surnames- Suffolk meaning Boston and its immediate neighbourhood-and dedicates it to the memory of the father of American Conveyancing, "A. Shurt," whose name is, as he says, associated with his daily toilet and his daily occupation. In six-and-thirty chapters does the author record, with a considerable spice of humour, the result of his researches into the history of all the surnames which have come under his notice - their origin and connection. "What's in a name?" says the Poet; and his inquiry may find an echo in the breast of the plain matter-of-fact man of business. The author of the work before us, which he says might have been entitled Directories Digested, or the Romance of the Registry, thus shows the importance of a name. Fortunes are amassed and dissipated, dynasties rise and pass away; but one's name (slightly changed it may be by time) is yet safely transmitted from father to son-an inheritance of to-day from a remote and otherwise unknown ancestry. Without seeking to place Mr. Bowditch higher than LOWER, we may safely recommend his book to all interested in the subject of Surnames. After these notices for our older readers, let us devote a few lines to a book calculated to amuse our younger friends. Chymical, Natural, and Physical Magic, intended for the Instruction and Entertainment of Juveniles during the Holiday Vacation, by G. W. S. Piesse, may be recommended, not only as a source of much innocent amusement, but as calculated to interest many young minds in the study of the principles of science upon which the majority of the tricks and delusions are founded. It is with deep regret that we announce the death of a valued Contributor to these pages, SAMUEL WELLER SINGER, Esq., which took place at his residence in the Wandsworth Road, on Monday the 20th Dec. MR. SINGER was in his 75th year. For some time previous to the appearance of this Journal, MR. SINGER, though still a diligent and laborious student, had ceased to employ his pen on literary matters; but, as he was kind enough to assure us, so heartily did he approve of the objects of "N. & Q.," that he could not resist contributing to its pages. Those who remember how varied and instructive his contributions have been, will think we did good service to Literature in calling them forth; and will learn from them what they have lost, in common with ourselves, by the death of this accomplished scholar. BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE. Particulars of Price, &c., of the following Books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose. HALE'S CHRONOLOGY. 4 vols. 4to. Wanted by J. II. W. Cadby, Birmingham. Notices to Correspondents. Among other articles of interest which we hope to insert in the next and following Numbers are Shakspeare's Strange Monster, by Dr. Rimbault; English Hexameters, by Mr. Gairdner: A Note on Guano, by Sir J. E. Tennent; On the Connexion between the Literature of England and the Continent and did we Import our Early Woodcuts? by Mr. Thoms; Richard Savage; Penance in the Kirk of Scotland; Bishop Percy; Articles of Marriage of Prince Charles and the Infanta of Spain, &c. COMPLETE SETS OF " N. & Q." We have reprinted such of our numbers as were out of print, and are now able to supply a few complete sets of "N. & Q." For these early application is desirable. INDEX TO VOLUME SIXTH OF SECOND SERIES is at press, and will be issued with "N. & Q." of the 15th instant. J. H. v. L. (Zeyst). Many thanks. A copy shall be sent regularly. Do as you propose. T. G. S. Received with many thanks. Not noticed because considered as only privately printed. PATONCE. send it? We have a letter for this correspondent. Where can we R. INGLIS. William Bew, whose Latin poem occurs in Jonsonus Virbius, was afterwards Bishop of Landaff. See Gifford's Jonson, ix. 418. The Rev. R. M'Donald Caunter was of Sidney College, Cambridge; and the Rev. J. J. Holroyd, of Christ College, Cambridge. DEXTER. The fable of "The Old Man and his Ass," was published in The World, No. 13. It is one of Dr. Edward Moore's papers. "NOTES AND QUERIES" is published at noon on Friday, and is also issued in MONTHLY PARTS. The subscription for STAMPED COPIES for Six Months forwarded direct from the Publishers (including the Halfyearly INDEX) is 11s. 4d., which may be paid by Post Office Order in favour of MESSRS. BELL AND DALDY, 186. FLEET STREET, E.C.; to whom all COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE EDITOR should be addressed. A very few Copies now ready. Complete in Twelve Volumes, price 61. 6s. cloth. NOTES AND QUERIES. SERIES THE FIRST. "Learned, chatty, useful." -Athenæum. Highly favourable opinions as to the utility and interest of these Volumes, and the amusing reading to be found in them, have been expressed by the Quarterly Review, Atheneum, Literary Gazette, Spectator, Dublin Review, Examiner, &c. The following is from one of several similar notices in The Examiner: — "Literary men, centuries after we are gone, will be taking in their NOTES AND QUERIES: and the books that shall be hereafter will be made the richer for the odd and interesting and important NOTES they furnish to the authors who contribute QUERIES for the sake of getting them." Also, price 5s. cloth, ΤΟ NOTES AND QUERIES. FIRST SERIES, Vols. I. to XII. "The utility of such an Index, not only to men of letters, but to wellinformed readers generally, is too obvious to require proof, more especially when it is remembered that many of these references (between 30,000 and 40,000) are to articles which themselves point out the best sources of inforination upon their respective subjects."-The Times, June 28, 1856. BELL & DALDY, 186. Fleet Street; and by Order of all Booksellers and Newsmen. LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 8. 1859. Notes. LITERARY INTERCOURSE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT: DID WE IMPORT OUR OLD WOOD BLOCKS? to see -- There is a subject which I have long wished tapped" (to use a favourite expression of Horace Walpole) in the columns of " N. & Q."I mean the literary intercourse which formerly existed between England and the Continent. I know but one gentleman competent to do it justice, from his familiarity with the literature not only of his own country and that of the other states of the Continent, but from his knowledge of that of England, which his long residence among us has almost made his own,-I mean the distinguished ambassador from Belgium, Monsieur Van de Weyer. As, however, there seems at present little prospect of our obtaining from that gentleman the fruits of his researches upon this point, I venture to call attention to some facts connected with it which I have met with, in the hope that others better qualified to pursue the inquiry will follow my lead. At the close of the last and the commencement of the present century, the writings of the Abbé de la Rue and others contributed very largely to show the obligations which English Literature owed to that of France: and what the Abbé de la Rue so well commenced has since been completed by the labours of many other distinguished French antiquaries. What we owe to Italian Literature has as yet been but imperfectly developed. Chaucer's Knight's Tale is supposed to have been originally a mere translation of the Theseida of Boccaccio. This is, I believe, an error, but one which I will not now stop to discuss. Chaucer himself tells us of his Clerke's Tale that he obtained it from Petrarch: "I wol you tell a tale, which that I Lerned at Padowe of a worthy clerk." And we know that he translated one, at least, of Petrarch's sonnets into English. But had Chaucer any obligations to the literature of Germany or the Low Countries? One of his lost works is the Book of the Lion. Was this a translation of Hartman von Aue's Ritter mit der Lowe? for we know that Hartman, who was a contemporary of Chaucer, visited England. Whether Peter Suchenwirt, the German Herald of the fourteenth century, whose Poems were edited by Primissier at Vienna in 1827, did the same, we know not; but among those poems is one respecting Hans von Traun, who was in the service of Edward III.* at the battle of Crecy. * There is a chronicle of the transactions of Edward III. during his sojourn in Flanders in the year 1340, Of the literary intercourse between England and Germany a curious instance is that which, I believe, I first brought under the notice of the English public in my Letter to the late Thomas Amyot, Esq., on the Connexion between the Early English and Early German Drama, -a paper written for the Society of Antiquaries on the occasion of Prince Albert's being admitted a member, and printed, not in the Archæologia, but in the New Monthly Magazine for January, 1841, at the special request of its then editor, the wittiest F.S.A. the world ever saw,- the late Theodore Hook. Other instances of such literary intercourse are no doubt to be found. But it is not very easy to distinguish that for which we are indebted to Germany, from what we owe to the Low Countries. Reynard the Fox clearly came to us from the latter. The Merry Jest of a Man that was called Hawleglas, probably through the same medium. But Doctor Faustus immigrated from Germany, and the Priest of Kalenberg, that curious companion to Eulenspiegel, from the same country. Caxton's residence in the Netherlands, and the enormous influence which his introduction of the art of printing exercised over our national literature, combined with the intimate commercial relations which existed between the two countries, to say nothing of community of religious feeling *, may well account for the literary interchange which was carried on for so long a period between For that the influence was not always on one side there is evidence in the translation into Dutch of works which were popular in England. For instance, I have in my possession, though I cannot lay my hand upon it at this moment for the purpose of giving its exact title, a Dutch version of Joseph Swetman's Arraignment of Lewd, Idle, Froward, and Unconstant Women, which was published at London in 1620. us. These few hints may draw the attention of some readers of "N. & Q.," possessed of more knowledge and more leisure than I have, to a rich field of literary history, which well deserves cultivation; and I only hope that they will not be deterred by thinking that, from the small gleanings which I have made, the harvest which would be the result of all their labour would be a poor one. written at the time, and first printed from the original manuscript at Gent in 1840. The title is "Van den derden Edewart Coninc van Engelant Rymkronyk geschryven omtrent het jaer 1347, door Jan de Kleerk van Antwerpen en uitgegeven met aentakinengen door J. F. Willems." At the end are several original charters of Edward, said to be first printed from the originals. I have for obvious reasons not alluded to the early versions of the Scriptures printed in the Low Countries, or to the English political and theological Tracts which are known to have been furtively printed there for distribution in England. But there is another question closely connected with the present, which, to the best of my belief, has never yet been discussed by any writer on the history of literature or art in England. Where did we get our early woodcuts from? Were they imported? If so, were they second-hand blocks, or were they executed specially for the printers by whom they were used? Two or three years since I had occasion to make a reference to the Collection of Roxburghe Ballads in the British Museum. I had found what I wanted, and was amusing myself by examining the various woodcuts by which they are illustrated, when I was joined by the late Mr. Kemble, whose attention I directed to the various styles of art, Italian, German, Flemish, &c. by which the woodcuts at the heads of the different ballads were distinguished, and he fully agreed with me that the question as to the source from which our earlier woodcut illustrations of the ballads were derived was one well deserving of investigation. ** Shortly afterwards I had the opportunity of purchasing a copy of the well-known old German poem, the Heldenbuch. It is a small folio printed in 1560, of which the title is as follows: Das Heldenbuch welchs auffs new Corrigiert und gebessert ist, mit schonen Figuren geziert. Gedruckt zu Franckfurdt am Mayn, durch Weygand Hand, und Sygmund Feierabendt. The worthy publishers, when they produced this edition, did their best to make their book attractive. Perhaps it was one of the Christmas Books of the year 1560. Be that as it may, it is profusely illustrated with wood blocks, there being nearly two hundred impressions in the book; although, as some of the cuts do duty in different parts of the volume, there are probably not above seventy or eighty distinct engravings. The blocks are all about 2 inches high, and 2 or 23 inches broad. They correspond exactly with some wood blocks which must be familiar to the readers of "N. & Q.," I mean those by which the small 12mo. English Chap-books are illustrated. I say correspond with, which is certainly true of many of them-for the woodcuts in some of our Chap-books are mere copies of some in the Heldenbuch; while I have no doubt a diligent investigator would find proofs that many of the original blocks from the Heldenbuch were used in the Chap-books of this country. I will give in In my friend Mr. Collier's interesting volume, A Book of Roxburge Ballads, will be found a number of facsimiles of such woodcuts as used to be prefixed to the old broadsides themselves. One of these, at p. 146., repre. sents a Fool with a quantity of geese strung round his girdle, and holding two others by the neck in his left hand. This has nothing to do with the ballad to which it is prefixed in the Roxburghe Collection, but represents an incident in the life of the German Fool Claus Narr, and exists as a frontispiece to the Volksbuch in which his history is related. stances of both. In a little 12mo. History of the Seven Champions, without date, but marked on the title-page" Ninth Edition," and "printed for L. Hawes & Company at the Red Lion in Pater Noster Row" and others, we have a woodcut representing a knight passing over a plank to a ship in which he is embarking. The costume is German, and it is a coarse but very unmistakeable copy of a woodcut at the verso of folio 44. of the Heldenbuch. In the same way, in a Chap-book edition of Fortunatus, without date, "printed by and for T. Norris at the Looking Glass on London Bridge," at p. 118., we have a woodcut representing a knight and lady, possibly a queen (for she wears a coronet), seated at table, with an old woman bringing in to them a cup, the cover of which she is lifting off: this is a copy of one which occurs twice in the Heldenbuch, namely, at pp. 25. and 32. While in the same edition of Fortunatus, at p. 159, we have a woodcut representing a knight or person in authority, accompanied by three others waiting, while a fifth is unlocking the arched door of a dungeon or cellar. This block, which is greatly wormed, is, I am inclined to believe, the identical block which figures in the Heldenbuch at p. 135. I could add other instances, but having, as I trust, said enough to call attention to the subject, I leave it to be treated by abler hands. WILLIAM J. THOMS. GUANO: THE KOORIA-MOORIA ISLANDS. ment, as to the priority of discovery, claimed by Some controversy is active at the present mocertain parties respectively, of the deposits of guano on these solitary rocks at the western entrance to the Persian Gulf. So far as the modern visitants have turned their inquiries to practical account by the actual removal of the substance they have discovered, they are entitled to merit. But it has been known for more than five hundred years that these islands possessed the rare combination of incidents essential to the production of guano which corresponds to our date of A.D. 1324-5, the in any locality. In the 725th year of the Hegira, Moorish traveller Abu Abd Mohammed Ibn Abdallah El Lawati, better known by his surname, Ibn Batuta, set out from Tangier to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca; and in the course of his long wanderings, extending over the eight-and-twenty years which followed, he sailed from Zafar (the farthest city in Yemen) for Ormus, and an incident in this voyage is thus described by him. I quote from the French version of Defrémery and Sanguinetti, which has been made from a more complete MS. of the Arabic text than that used by Lee in his translation for the Oriental Fund: "Nous voyageâmes encore quatre jours depuis le port de Hâcic: ensuite nous arrivâmes à la montagne Loum'ân * Nous nous embarquâmes de nouveau, et après deux jours, nous arrivâmes à l'île des Oiseaux, qui est dépourvue de population. Nous jetâmes l'ancre, nous montâmes dans l'île, et nous la trouvâmes remplie d'oiseaux ressemblant aux moineaux, mais plus gros que ceux-ci. Les gens du navire appartèrent des œufs, les firent cuire et les mangèrent. Ils se mirent à chasser ces mêmes oiseaux, et en prirent un bon nombre, qu'ils firent cuire aussi, sans les avoir préalablement égorgés, et ils les mangèrent. Il y avait, assis à mon côté, un marchand de l'ile de Massîrah, qui habitait Zafar, et donc le nom était Moslim. Je le vis manger ces oiseaux avec les matelots, et je lui reprochai une telle_action. Il en fut tout honteux, et il me répondit: Je croyais qu'ils leur avaient *coupé la gorge.' Après cela, il se tint éloigné de moi, par l'effet de la honte, et il ne m'approchait que lorsque je l'appelais." The "ile des Oiseaux was one of the KooriaMooria group; and it will be seen from Ibn Batuta's description that, in addition to being situated in an almost rainless region, these islands present the other conditions essential to the presence of guano -a multitudinous resort of sea-fowl, and a destitution of other living inhabitants. J. EMERSON TENNENT. MEDICINE. The year just expired is the æra of a very considerable change in the medical arrangements of the country, which has been made almost without notice. Attention enough has been directed to the medical act as a whole, to its machinery for preventing fraudulent assumption of titles, to its new Medical Council, to the hardship of making established practitioners pay a heavy fee for being written down in a book. Nor have the lighter features of the subject been neglected: it has been duly noticed that there is a clause under which the medical man is enabled to recover, but that there is no such clause for the patient, who is left in this matter to the doctor's discretion, as heretofore. But the great recognition of private judgment, and the downfall of collegiate authority, has hardly obtained a passing notice, even from the colleges themselves. It has always been taken that the aspirant for a medical diploma, in answering the questions proposed to him, was showing belief as well as knowledge without binding himself to every detail, he was considered as holding, in the main, by the system under which he had been educated, and as engaging to regulate his practice accordingly. And thus it has several times happened, of late years, that candidates who have been known to intend to follow a path, or pathy, different from that of the colleges, have either been refused their diplomas, or have been abused as fraudulent persons in the medical journals. All excuse for this kind of charge is now at an end. The recent medical act empowers the Privy Council to deprive of its function any examining body which, after one warning from the Medical Council, shall persist in making the examination or the certificate a test of belief in any medical or surgical theory. From the history of the repeated attempts to obtain a medical bill, it appears that, in the early stages, there was a strong disposition on the part of the profession to try to make all that they call quackery illegal and punishable; that in the later stages there was a conviction that any such attempt was hopeless, and that all that could be successfully proposed would be the punishment of. those who should announce themselves under false titles. This reasonable measure has been carried. Again, in several of the later bills, a clause has been inserted prohibiting any medical or surgical opinion from being made a ground of expulsion from the profession: but nothing so strong as the clause above alluded to was ever hinted at before. This clause was not in the bill sent up by the Commons: it was introduced in the Lords without exciting any public attention. It was then received in the Commons with a remark that it was meant for the protection of homoeopathy, and a laugh; and so it passed. Never before was a principle upset so easily. All bodies which are deprived of the power of imposing opinion and belief gain at least as much as those who are relieved of their control. In the present instance, what is called regular education becomes morally imperative upon those who intend to follow what is called irregular practice. In the times gone by, one who was to be a quack might reasonably object to frequent a medical school: he might be deterred by the feeling that he would be supposed to be making a fraudulent use of the teaching of that school. But no such impediment now exists, even to his presenting himself for examination. The anatomy, the physiology, the surgery, the diagnosis of disease, the chemistry, and the materia medica, of the existing schools, are requisite to be known by the followers of all systems. The practice of medicine, or mode of treating disease, is the only field of difference. Until regular schools are founded for the education of medical dissenters, it will be difficult to believe in the competency of any person who has not sought the common knowledge in those which already exist. To which it must be added, that in no other way can the nonconformist produce sufficient proof that he has given to the system which has time and numbers in its favour all that time and numbers can demand in our day-attentive examination. The old distinction of regular and irregular practitioner-regular medical man and quackcall it what you will, which the law has now put in course of abolition, dates from the old Egyptians. This distinction, as we all know, consists in following or not following a course laid down by |