and Compasses," from which the transition to a single goat is easy? J. F. MARSH.

Hardwick House, Chepstow.

"CORRODY" (5th S. viii. 448.)—

"Corodie is an allowance of meat, bread, drink, money, cloathing, lodging, and such like necessaries for sustenance. Corodies are of common right, as every founder of abbeys and other houses of religion had authority to assign such in the same houses for father, brother, cousin, or other that he would appoint.......And this corody was due as well to a common person Founder as where the King himself was Founder. But where the House was holden in Frankalmoigne there the tenure itself was a discharge of corodie against all men, except it were afterward charged voluntarily; as when the King would send his writ to the abbot for a corodie for such a one, whom they admit, there the House should be thereby charged for ever, whether the King were founder or not. See the writ de Corodio habendo in Fitzh. Nat. Brev., fol. 230."-Les Termes de la Ley, edit. 1685. Primarily the corrody was a supply of food and other necessaries given by the vassals of a lord whenever he chose to quarter himself and his dependents upon them, or, as it is explained in Migne's edition of Ducange, "convivia quæ vassallis quoties per dominis præstabantur a illorum terras pergebant." The custom was of Celtic origin, and was called coshering in Ireland. It is named by Sir John Davies, in his Discovery of the True Cause why Ireland was never brought under Obedience of the Crown of England, as one of the exactions by which the Irish people were oppressed by their native chiefs :

corody is allowed towards the maintenance of any of the king's servants that liveth in the abbey, a pension is given to one of the king's chaplains for his better maintenance in the king's service until he may be betterprovided of a benefice."-Cowel, Law Dict., sub voc. K. P. D. E.

A corrody, corody, or corodie was practically a kind of rent charge on an abbey or other religious Blount in his Law Dictionary endowment. defines it as a sum of money or allowance of meat, drink, and clothing due to a founder "towards the reasonable sustenance of such a one of his servants or vadelets as he thinks good to bestow it on." A corody was for life, for a term of years, in tail, or in fee, and might be certain or uncertain (see Fitzherbert's Natura Brevium). In the Termes de la Ley it is said that a corody on a monastery cannot be held by a woman, neither can one on a The question of nunnery be held by a man. corodies became of very general interest at the time of the dissolution of religious houses, and the 34-35 Hen. VIII. cap. 19, provides for "pensions, sinodies, and portions, corrodies, indemnities, proxies " (see Bishop Gibson's Codex Juris Eccl. Ang.). The usual dictionary derivation, such as that given by Minshew, 1627, "a lat. corrodo," is like cordone (i.e. reward), and surely could not be by no means satisfactory. It was a monkish word, derived from "fretting or gnawing bones."

EDWARD SOLLY. A corodie, corrodium alias corredium, Lat. ; corredo, Ital. Provision; a right of sustenance or to receive certain allotments of victual and provision for one's maintenance. The founder of an abbey or other religious house had the right to claim a provision out of the common fund for his servant or vadelet. The king, whether founder or not, had this privilege. It was the subject of grant for life or less term, and even in fee simple or fee tail. If the charge were upon a house of monks, the grantor could not send a woman to take it, or if it were due from a nunnery, it was not lawful to appoint a man to receive it. Where the religious house was holden in Frankalmoigne it was discharged of all corodies (stat. 1 Edw. III. cap. 10),. except the corodie were voluntarily charged, as when the king sent his writ and the beneficiary was admitted, in which case the house would be thereby charged for ever. A corodie differed from a pension, which was given to one of the king's chaplains for his better maintenance until he should be provided with a benefice. It was an ancient law, for in the statute of West. 2, cap. 25, it was ordained that an assize should lie for a corodie. It is also apparent by the stat. 34 and 35 Hen. VIII. cap. 26, that corodies belonged sometimes to bishops. and noblemen from monasteries. Sir Matthew Hale says that a corodie was due of common right, and that no prescription would discharge it (2 Inst., 647). If the house did not submit a writ would

lie (see Reg. of Writs, fo. 264). Fitzherbert, in his Nat. Brev., fo. 30, sets down all the corodies and pensions certain that any abbey when they stood was bound to perform to the king. See Blac., Com.; Termes de la Ley; Spelman, Gloss. GEORGE WHITE.

St. Briavel's, Epsom. See Spelman's Glossary, Jacob's Law Dictionary, or Halliwell's Glossary. C. J. E.

"IT IS AN ILL WIND," &c. (5th S. ix. 348, 413.)The following extract from the Times of some months since gives an early instance of the occurrence of this proverb in what is now the less common form: :

"AN ILL-USED PROVERB.-The Theatre, commenting on the proverb generally quoted as 'It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good,' says: In Heywood's Proverbs, 1562, is this, "It is an ill wind that blows no man to good." Shakspere uses it in Hen. VI., pt. iii. Act ii. sc. 5, "Ill blows the wind that profits nobody," a change of form made for the sake of the metre. In Hen. IV., pt. ii. Act v. sc. 3, Pistol says, "Not the ill wind which blows none to good," which is very nearly the popular form as given by Heywood.'"

ED. MARSHALL.

DEMOGRAPHY (5th S. ix. 247, 295.)-I should think there is scarcely a Greek scholar worthy of the name who would endorse M. Lagneau's doctrine that "the terms Ethnology, Ethnography, and Demography are almost synonymous in their etymological signification." For if etymology is to be the test (and there can be no better), then M. Lagneau has pitched upon the very one which, far beyond all others, tells directly against his view. Passing by the first, let us break up the others into their component parts. We have thus ἔθνος-γράφω and δῆμος-γράφω, the radical or root meaning of the former being a nation comprising people of every class; of the latter, people of the lower class only, the exact equivalent of the Latin plebs; so that the two words, or "terms," are no more synonymous than are genus and species, which, in their mutual relation, they really are.* Hence, as Ovos comprehends within its signification nobles as well as commoners, it would be quite as legitimate to say that nobles and commoners are nearly one and the same, as that Ovos and duos are "almost synonymous." But authority is dead against all this; for, not to mention others, both Homer and Herodotus put the words in opposition. In the Iliad (ii. 188) we find övriva per eoxor avopa, and in 1. 198 of the same book, ov da Sýμov ' avopa, where the speaker is represented as addressing the former, dyavoîs enéeσowy, with bland words, and as striking the other oкÝTTρ, with his sceptre. In Herodotus (i. 196) we have between evoaíuoves and duos a contrast set up

* What I mean is that, as correlatives, Evoc and ñμoç are respectively to each other genus and species.

THE "TIDE OF FATE" (5th S. ix. 426.)—The consideration raised by KINGSTON is a very curious one. I have for many years observed the effects, or the apparent effects-for I know not which is the more correct term-of the phenomena referred to, and have asked myself this question, Do events and casualties, which appear beyond the control or influence of the human will, occur in cycles? Take railway accidents. No sooner does one serious casualty of this class occur than the newspapers teem with others of the same class, but of less magnitude; then comes a lull. I feel certain that to a very large extent there is nothing more than coincidence here, arising in this form. The public mind becomes excited upon the subject, everything bearing upon it is consequently recorded in the newspapers, and so there seems to be a cycle of such occurrences, when in truth nothing more than ordinary events are happening. This view as to railway accidents may be proved to be correct by reference to the Board of Trade returns of persons killed by such casualties. These show a steady increase in regard to the.number of miles of railway opened and the increase of persons travelling, and rarely anything more.

This view therefore arises: Events of all kinds are happening constantly around us, but we do not take conscious note of them, unless the mind is directed towards them by some overwhelming incident; then for a time we see all the events of the same class, whether small or large.

But there are some classes of events which may really occur in proximity from one common influence, as that of the weather, i.e. the condition of the temperature-there are explosions of fire-damp in coal mines, perhaps also gunpowder-mill explosions and steam-boiler explosions. It is clear that the number of shipwrecks occurring in any given space of time may depend much upon the condition of the elements in relation to storms, fogs, &c. It is possible that here we may trace a relation to the sun spot theory.

I have long been a director of a leading accident insurance company. It is quite certain that

in this business we do have cycles of casualties, as, for instance, a certain district of the country will sustain an unusual proportion of accidents, or that accidents of a certain distinct type, as distinguished from other types, will prevail for a given period. I have endeavoured to deduce a law in all this, but without success hitherto, yet I do not despair. Certain states of the atmosphere superinduce to fatal terminations of simple injuries, as erysipelas and other species of blood-poisoning.

In fire insurance losses are observed to run upon certain classes of risk, as at one period woollen mills, at another cotton mills, and (about quarter days!) on the shops of struggling tradesmen; but in all this cause and effect are always to be traced, as depression of certain branches of trade, &c. In some countries fires will be very numerous in one province, and hardly any in another and perhaps a neighbouring one, the solution being political discontent, unusual fiscal burdens, &c.

It is clear, then, that in many of the observed facts the operations of the human will are apparent and direct. May it not be that in other cases the cause is the same, but its operation concealed? This operation may be indirect as well as direct. In the case of railway accidents their prevention depends greatly upon the nerves of numerous pointsmen, breakmen, and other officials. Fear, affecting the nervous energies, may produce the very results which are sought to be avoided.

I note down these thoughts as they occur to me, without exact logical sequence, and simply in the spirit of inquiry. What we want, in view of the solution of all such questions, is accurately recorded facts, complete over a series of years. Chance jottings are always incomplete, and therefore necessarily misleading. I have sometimes (mentally) resolved to start an "Event and Occurrence" Society, whose business it should be to prepare and publish records. Would it go ?

CORNELIUS WALFORD, F.I.A., F.S.S. Belsize Park Gardens, N.W.

If KINGSTON will refer to Buckle's History of Civilization in England, vol. i. cap. i. pp. 22-26, edition 1871, he will find this subject, and "the proof we now possess of the regularity with which mental phenomena succeed each other," very ably discussed. CLARRY.

"COPPER": "KOPPER": "Cop" (5th S. ix. 187, 297.)-MR. SCHOU connects the word cop head with Gr. Kepadý, Lat. caput. This, of course, is an impossible etymological equation. The Teutonic cognates of caput are Goth. haubith, A.-S. heafod, O.N. höfuð, Eng. head, &c. The O.H.G. choph, Germ. kopf (head), Icel. koppr (=cup), Eng. cop, a round hill, head, is a different word, cognate probably with the Celtic cop, top, A. L. MAYHEW.

summit. Oxford.

THE OPERA (5th S. ix. 448.)-As Rachell Newport's letter is dated in Dec., 1658, it may be assumed that she refers to the performance of operas at the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane, rather than to those at Rutland House in Charter House Yard, which preceded the others. The first inhibition of " stage plays" was in 1642, and the second on Feb. 13, 1647-48. In Dec., 1648, Captain Betham was appointed provost martial, "with power to seize upon all ballad-singers, and to suppress stage plays.' But in 1656 the government had fallen into less fanatical hands. Cromwell was in the ascendant, and he was known to be a great lover of music. Then Sir William Davenant, with the countenance and support of Lord Whitelocke, Sir John Maynard, and others, fitted up Rutland House as a theatre, and produced An Entertainment after the Manner of the Ancients, in which the dialogue was declaimed throughout to music, as by the ancient Greek Rhapsodists in their recitations of the Homeric and other poems. This was the first English opera, the vocal and instrumental music having been composed by Dr. Charles Coleman, Captain Henry Cook, Henry Lawes, and George Hudson. The evasion of the Act of Parliament having been tolerated, Davenant produced in the same year The Siege of Rhodes. Finding his venture successful, he next took the Cockpit Theatre in Drury Lane, and produced there The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, which Cromwell is said to have read and approved before its representation, and The History of Sir Francis Drake. The former was published in 1658 and the latter in 1659. Spoken dialogue was reverted to after the Restoration, as in Matthew Locke's opera of Psyche and others.

WM. CHAPPELL.

DRAYTON (5th S. ix. 87, 137, 317.)-It is quite true that Market Drayton is a dry town, built, as it is, on an eminence. But are Drayton Fen and Fenny Drayton so named from their particularly dry sites? There is an instance of A.-S. dreg in the Domesday "Dregetone," modernized, not Drayton, but Drineton. In the same place Market Drayton is written "Draitune." This orthography marks a striking difference, then and now, in the pronunciation of the first syllable of each word. May I quote in support of my suggestion of the

answer.

probable origin of the word Hulbert's Hist. of Salop, ii. 107?" This town is certainly a place of great antiquity, and is supposed to be the Roman station of Mediolanum " (a similar claim has, I believe, been advanced on behalf of Middle, co. Salop). "Ninnius enumerates this as one of the principal cities of the Britons." He speaks of Market Drayton. In the first number of the Old Cross, a magazine for Warwickshire, just published, I notice that the derivation of Coventry is asked for. I am sorry that I cannot anticipate the But the try in Oswestry is not the British tre; the place was originally called Maserfield, and was called subsequently Oswaldstree, in commemoration of a great victory gained there by Oswald, King of Northumberland, fighting under the ensign of the cross. Daventry is pronounced Daintry this sounds like Danes-town. Perhaps Dr. Lee, in his history of Market Drayton, says something about the origin of the name. May I ask, in conclusion, whether the Anglo-Saxon words Bur and Cot, interpreted as they are some forty times by the addition of ton, are not also tautological curiosities? W. F. MARSH JACKSON.

:

"Towards the City then he rode;

But halted at the Robin Hood;

Cry'd, D-n my Eyes and Limbs, but here
I'll have a double Pot of Beer.
Here mighty Henley, Type of me,
Gave Lectures of true Orat'ry.
Here first he publish'd to the Nation
His own, and my Divine Legation.
Here left to me his Parts and Flock;
And here to me had left his Cloak;
But he had none! That Gown, behold,
So torn, so rusty, and so old!

That Cassock see, of Nut-brown Hue;
That Gown was his, that Cassock too!
But, here's the Cure of all my Woes.
Sorrow is dry,-Come, W(il)ks,-here goes.'
So drain'd the Pitcher to the Dregs."
"Henley" was, of course, "Orator Henley."

0. TWIN TOES (5th S. ix. 286.)-A male child was born on February 16, 1878, at a cottage on a part of my estate called the Spring Valley, in the parish of Worfield, in Shropshire, having the first and second toes next the big toe of each foot webbed together. The parents are now residing in another part of the same parish, and the child is living and tolerably healthy. HUBERT SMITH.

PORTRAITS AFTER VANDYCK (5th S. ix. 347.)Can the engraved portrait No. 1, of which MR. BOASE speaks, be that of Richard Tarlton or Tarleton, who lived in the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth century? He was

"the earliest English comedian of celebrity." In a very rare old pamphlet entitled Kind Hearte's Dream, by Henry Chettle, 4to., no date, but published in December, 1592, he is thus described :

"The next by his suite of russet-his buttoned caphis taber-his standing on the toe, and other tricks, I knew to be either the body or resemblance of Tarleton, who living for his pleasant conceits was of all men liked, and dying for mirth left not his like."

In 1611 a book was published called Tarleton's Jeasts. The portrait in question may have formed the frontispiece to this book.

BOILEAU.

"THE ACTS OF TO-DAY BECOME THE PRECEDENTS OF TO-MORROW" (5th S. ix. 425.)—A similar idea to that of Mr. F. Herschell may be found in Junius's dedication of his letters to the English nation : "What yesterday was fact to-day is doctrine." W. E. ADAMS. Newcastle-on-Tyne.

"BEATI POSSIDENTES" (5th S. ix. 428.)—In A New Dictionary of Quotations (1861), now before me, the form is given as "beati possessores," and the following passage is cited, but unfortunately without a reference to its author:

"Henry VIII. silenced the professors of the Canon Law at the universities, forbade the granting of degrees in it, and nominated a commission for its reform. But beati possessores is a maxim of the law. Its masters of the science of defence have always been excellent in their own behalf."

Reading.

W. T. M.

THE POET BERENICIUS (5th S. ix. 348.)-The following extract from A New and General Biographical Dictionary, 15 vols., 8vo., 1798, is probably the answer to your correspondent's query :

"Berenicius, a man utterly unknown, who appeared in Holland in the year 1670. He was thought to be a Jesuit, or a renegade from some other religious fraternity. He got his bread by sweeping chimnies and grinding knives. He died in a bog, suffocated in a fit of drunkenness. His talents, if the historians that mention him are to be credited, were extraordinary. He versified with so much ease that he would recite extempore, and in tolerably good poetry, whatever was said to him in prose. He has been seen to translate the Flemish gazettes from that language into Greek or Latin verse, standing on one foot. The dead languages, the living languages, Greek, Latin, French, and Italian were as familiar to him as his mother tongue. He could repeat several pieces of Cicero, of the one and the other Pliny, by heart Horace, Virgil, Homer, Aristophanes, and and, after reciting long passages from them, point out the book and the chapter from whence they were taken. It is supposed that the Georgarchoniomachia is by him." In my turn I should like to ask what the above remarkably named work may be.

G. DE JEANVILLE.

Is not Berenicius intended, of whom Zedler gives an account in his Universal Lexicon? This poet lived in Zeeland in the middle of the seven

teenth century, and was wonderfully skilled in languages and in impromptu verse. He used at times to fall into ecstasies, and speak so quickly that it was impossible to write down his words. He was entirely negligent of the comforts of life, travelled from country to country, and was at last found dead in a ditch near Rotterdam. His poems were published in that city in 1691.

JOSIAH MILLER, M.A.

A PSEUDO-CHRIST (5th S. viii. 488; ix. 17, 298.)-Were not these personations of Christ due then, as they are now, to mental derangement? The case is better understood in the present day. P. P.

JOHN LOCKE (5th S. viii. 307, 356.)-The Correspondence between the Earl of Sunderland and the Bishop of Oxford respecting Mr. Locke is quoted in appendix ii. to Charles James Fox's History of James II. The first letter is so curious that it may be permissible to quote it :

"To the Lord Bishop of Oxford.

"Whitehall, Nov. 6, 1684. "My Lord,-The King being given to understand that one Mr. Locke, who belonged to the late Earl of Shaftesbury, and has, upon several occasions, behaved himself very factiously and undutifully to the Government, is a student of Christchurch, his Majesty commands me to signify to your Lordship that he would have him removed from being a student, and that in order thereunto your Lordship would let me know the method of doing it. I am, my Lord, &c.,

SUNDERLAND."

ני

The bishop acknowledges, on Nov. 8, the honour of his lordship's letter, and writes:—

"I have for divers years had an eye upon him, but so close has his guard been on himself that after several strict inquiries I may confidently affirm there is not any

one in the college, however familiar with him, who had heard him speak a word either against, or so much as concerning, the Government."

The bishop goes on to explain how vain efforts had been made to entrap him, without eliciting any expression of concern "in word or look," so that, he adds, "I believe there is not in the world such a master of taciturnity and passion." He then explains how Mr. Locke "is now abroad upon want of health," but has been summoned to return, and that if he fails to do so he may be expelled "for contumacy." He thinks it possible that Mr. Locke may be caught tripping in London, "where a general liberty of speaking was used, and where the execrable designs against his Majesty and his Government were managed and pursued." Dr. Fell concludes by saying that if the method suggested "seem not effectual or speedy enough, and his Majesty," their founder and visitor, shall please to command his immediate remove, it shall accordingly be executed by his lordship's "most humble and obedient servant, J. Oxon." His Majesty accordingly, on Nov. 11, signified his will and pleasure that Locke should be removed from his student's place. On Nov. 16 Dr. Fell wrote to

say the command was "fully executed"; and an undated acknowledgment from Lord Sunderland intimates that his Majesty "is well satisfied with the College's ready obedience to his commands for the expulsion of Mr. Locke." D. BARRON BRIGHTWELL.

"THE BRISTOL MEMORIALIST" (5th S. ix. 188, 236, 337.)—In reference to my reply (ante, p. 236) as to who was the author of "Sayings of my Uncle" in the above-named work, MR. J. F. NICHOLLS says that "from the style" he should "ascribe" them to the "Rev. John Evans," author of The Ponderer. My information was obtained from a copy of the Memorialist, in which the name of the contributor is prefixed to each article by Mr. W. Tyson, the editor. Under the heading of the papers in question he has written, in his plain handwriting, "by John Evans, printer." This evidence of their authorship is of more value than any assumptive "ascriptions." The minister and the printer, though bearing the same names, were in no way related-only" a cosmopolitish affinity," writes the latter. W. GEORGE.

ANNIBAL CARACCI (5th S. ix. 27, 75, 298.)— The information given by MR. RUTLEY agrees with what I find in dictionaries. I have been told by one of the most eminent English artists now living that he knew of only two (perhaps three) engraved copies of the Marys-one in London and one in should be glad to have this question answered. St. Petersburg. Are there any others known? I

Washington, D.C.

GEO. A. M.

BREAD AND SALT (5th S. ix. 48, 138, 299.)A. J. M. asks if the custom of presenting bread and salt to a baby continues in Yorkshire. It does in the East Riding, for I have frequently seen babies given not only bread, salt, and money, but, in addition, an egg and matches. I do not know the meaning of the various gifts, but imagine that the last, at least, must be a comparatively recent addition.

There is another custom prevailing in the same part of the country which I should be glad to see explained, i.e. that of "letting in" Christmas and New Year. I cannot recollect the different minutiæ comprised in it accurately, as it is many years since I was in Yorkshire, but, as far as I can remember, Christmas was always represented by a fair man, and was the first person admitted into the house after midnight on the eve. Certain questions were put and answered before the guest