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WRIGHT'S COAL-TAR SOAP IS USED BY EVERY FAMILY OF DISTINCTION IN THE IT IS THE MOST HEALTH-PRESERVING ADJUNCT TO THE Highly and Extensively Recommended by Mr. JAMES STARTIN, Surgeon to St. John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin; the late Dr. JAMES STARTIN 3, Savile Row; Dr. McCALL ANDERSON, Woodside Crescent, Glasgow; and the other Leading Members of the Profession. "It is the only true antiseptic soap."-British Medical Journal IN TABLETS 6d. AND 18. EACH, OF ALL CHEMISTS. "SAPO CARBONIS DETERGENS." Proprietors of the Coal-Tar Pill, "Pilula Carbonis Detergens," and Solution of Coal-Tar, Liquor Carbonis Detergens," particulars of which are enclosed with each Tablet of Soap. LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1878. CONTENTS. - N° 228. NOTES:-Miguel Solis, aged 180, 361-The See of Caithness- -The Thames: Kent and Essex-"The Bonnie House of Dublin Castle in the Reign of George II.-Gray the Poet on Thirlmere-A Coincidence-Hot Cross Buns-Huntingdon in 1807-Rue, 365-Chaucer and Lydgate Fragments, 366. QUERIES:-A Residence for Royalty in Ireland-"Fortiter et suaviter"-Sclavonic or Slavonic-Col. Alured, the Regicide-The Welsh Ap Shenkin and the Irish Family of Shink win-The Names of the Mistletoe-R. Wilson's "Bathers " -The States Prison at the Hague-The Yoki-The Family of Golding-The American Robin-Biographical Particulars Wanted-Bolshuns"-Easter Sunday-Rev. G. Wickham -Floral Chief Rents-Foley's "English-Irish Dictionary," 367-Topham Beauclerk-Authors Wanted, &c., 363. REPLIES:-Miniatures on Copper of King Charles L., 368Scott Family, 369-"The Paston Letters," 370-"Every man has his price "-A Turnpike Act Marriage-Boucher's "Glossary of Archaic Words," 371-Robert Paltock-King Alaric's Burial-" As," 372-Rhodes Family-Sainte-Beuve Bossuet-The Heir of John, Lord Wenlock, 373 Treatises on Agriculture-F. F. Barham-Milton's First Wife-The Provosts of St. Edmund's, Salisbury, 374-School Books-Ceracci-Tabling-Letters of Washington-"A forlorn hope"-Wm. Jackson, 375-"German" Silver-An Antique Silver Bell-Washington Irving-Clerical Titles on St. Mark's Day a Fast-Heraldic-The Barony of Courtenay, 376-Sir R. Grenville-Surnames now Obsolete-GrimaldiGiudecca-Chioggia-Licence to eat Flesh in Lent, 377The Fieldfare, &c.-"Give peace in our time"-" Hoping against hope"-Lowland Aberdeen-An Oil PaintingParsons, Publicans-The Fourth Estate of the Realm, 378. Notes on Books, &c. Notes. MIGUEL SOLIS, AGED 180. part of the civilized world should be found, in the year 1878, to consider seriously the case of a man who modestly" confesses" to being 180 years old, but is believed by his neighbours to be really much more than 180, did not, until I read this article, "stand within the prospect of my belief." Dr. Hernandez's credence in this story of Miguel Solis (for if he had not believed it he certainly would not have brought it forward) appears to have been based upon the evidence of three witnesses. First, on that of Miguel Solis himself, "who confesses to being 180 years old"; secondly, on that of the oldest inhabitants of the district, who remembered him as a reputed centenarian when they were boys; thirdly, on that of the abbot of a Franciscan monastery near San Sebastian, who is satisfied that the present Miguel Solis is the identical Miguel Solis who was, in 1712, a contributor to the building fund of the monastery. San Sebastian is obviously a locality favourable to longevity, since the abbot (I wonder how much he is under 200) can identify the living party to a transaction which took place 166 years ago. It is clear that age cannot wither Miguel Solis. He is robust and active, and when the doctor visited him was working in his orchard; his "teeth are as sound as they were 180 years ago"; his snow-white hair is twisted turban fashion round his head, and his eyes are "so bright that the doctor felt quite uncomfortable when they were turned upon him." I suspect the learned gentleman's "uncomfortable feeling" has misled him as to the expression of old Miguel's eyes, and that they were really twinkling with malicious glee at the doctor's gullibility. In the two years which followed the publication of my little book, The Longevity of Man, I was overwhelmed with such a mass of correspondence The Indians say Miguel has sold himself to the asking my opinion and challenging my investiga- Devil. Miguel says the same thing of the Indians. tion of what the writers all believed to be un- There is no ground for supposing Dr. Hernandez doubted cases of ultra-centenarianism, that in 1875 to have acted in that way. Gentlemen who do so I was obliged, in self-defence, to explain in the sell themselves generally claim from the purchaser Times that I had been compelled to give up the the two gifts of long life and supernatural power. investigation of cases of supposed exceptional If the doctor has been seduced into any such longevity, and to print a circular to the same compact, it is to be hoped he will at least obtain effect. From that time, with one or two rare the promised length of days, for it is obvious from exceptions, such as the undoubted case of Canon his present "interesting account" that he is no Beadon and the hoax of Mr. Edward Morgan, conjurer. Had he been, he would have eliminated said to be 106, I have not troubled myself nor any from the story of Miguel Solis the small error on of the public journals on the subject of longevity. which it is founded-have struck out the first of But the astounding account reported in the Pall the three figures of his reputed age, and have left Mall Gazette of the 20th ult. as given by "Dr. "the half-breed farmer living at the Foot Hills of Luiz Hernandez to a meeting of physicians at the Sierra Mesilla" the eighty years, or thereBogota, of a visit which he had paid to a half-abouts, which he has probably attained. breed farmer named Miguel Solis, living in the In conclusion, will you kindly give the following Foot Hills of the Sierra Mesilla, who confesses to canon on centenarianism the advantage of pubbeing 180 years old, but is believed by his neigh-licity in your columns ?— bours to be really much older," has made me such a target for the paper bullets of the brain of all my friends that I venture to ask you to find room for a few words of comment upon it. That a member of the medical profession in any "The age of an individual is a fact, and like all other facts to be proved, not inferred; to be established by evidence, not accepted on the mere assertion of the individual or the belief of his friends; not deduced from his physical condition if living, or from his autopsy if dead; but proved by the register of his birth or baptism, DCLX. In the first, dated May 11, 1360, Pope Innocent VI. writes to Thomas, Bishop of Caithness, directing him upon his consecration to proceed to his diocese. In the second, dated July 8 following, we find Innocent addressing a letter to George, Archbishop of Cashel, in consequence of certain accusations and objections made by the Bishops of Killaloe, Limerick, Ardfert, and Cloyne against the appointment of Bishop Thomas to the see of Caithness, and directing the archbishop to report concerning the condition of that see- præsertim si dicta ecclesia Cathayensis cathedralis existat, et a quanto tempore cathedralis fuit, et si habuit et habet civitatem et diocesim distinctas, ac si alios episcopos habuit, et qui fuerunt," &c. The Archbishop of Cashel was, however, drowned in 1362, and seems to have passed away without making the report directed by the letter of the Pope. Innocent also died about the same time, and on June 24, 1363, we find his successor, Pope Urban V., writing to Thomas, Bishop of Lismore, directing him to make the required report as to the status of the see of Caithness. In these letters there were two things which seemed to me to require explanation: first, how the Pope and his officials could have the smallest doubt with regard to the existence of the see of Caithness, seeing that, as we find in Theiner, the Papal archives contained the fullest records of many former appointments to the bishopric. And again, it seemed almost inexplicable that, with a regular hierarchy existing in Scotland, the Pope should direct first an Irish archbishop and then an Irish bishop to report concerning the status of a Scottish see. But I believe I may say that I have discovered the explanation. On turning over Graesse's Orbis Latinus ("Oder Verzeichniss der Lateinischen Bennenungen der Städte," &c.), Dresden, 1861, I find that there was another Cathanasia besides the Scottish county and see of Caithness, viz. the town of Dunmore in Ireland. It is therefore clear, I think, that the Irish bishops who objected to the appointment of Bishop Thomas to the see of Caithness were, or affected to be, afraid that the Pope had been persuaded to nominate him, and cause him to be consecrated, as bishop of an Irish see which had not then, and does not appear ever to have had, any existence. Their interference and the reference of the matter to an Irish archbishop and bishop are thus explained. It is still not easy to understand how it was that there was no one at hand to explain that Bishop Thomas had been nominated to a Scottish see, not to a non-existent Irish one. The residence of the Papal Court at Avignon, from whence the above letters are dated, accounts for the inability of the officials to consult the archives in the Vatican. Still, among those which must have been preserved at Avignon, there were at least two Papal nominations to the see of Caithness, viz. that of Alan, by Benedict XII., in 1340, and of Thomas de Fingast (Fingask), by Clement VI., in 1341 (Theiner, Nos. DXLVIII. and DLI.), which, had they been consulted, would have been quite sufficient to clear up the matter, and to prove that the see of Caithness had a bona fide existence in the kingdom of Scotland. Montrose. JOHN WOODWARD. P.S.-I have just remembered to look at Anderson's excellent edition of the Orkneyinga Saga. The succession to the see of Caithness is there set forth, and I observe that the editor is aware of the difficulty, but is unable to offer any explanation except that it may have been (as I have shown it was) a “series of mistakes." Mr. Anderson also leaves out the name of the Bishop of Killaloe ("Thomas Laoniensis") as one of the objectors. With reference to his note I may also add that, from the difference of dates, it seems clear that the objection could not have been to Thomas de Fingask (Orkneyinga Saga, Introduction, pp. lxxxvi, lxxxvii). PANCIROLLUS AND SALMUTH. I ask leave to correct, in "N. & Q.," a mistake which has now extended so far as to seem likely to obtain the undying character which is said to belong to falsifications. My note is made in the hope of stopping its progress. When the late Mr. John Ward of Burslem was publishing his work upon the Borough of Stokeupon-Trent, I translated and sent to him a passage from the chapter of Pancirollus, edited by Salmuth, "De Porcellanis." I have his letter before me now, in which he enclosed to me a proof of what I had sent, asking me to correct the proof and return it to him. I did so. I will now give the title-page of Pancirollus at length, from the same copy which I then used. The title-pages of the two volumes differ slightly, as will be seen : |