US. XL APRIL 24, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
327
PROFESSORS AT DEBITZEN, 1756 (11 S.
- xi. 279). Is not this a reference to the
College at Debreczin, the chief centre of Protestantism in Hungary ? Other spell- ings are Debrezen, Debritz, &c. Might not the late English alliance with Maria Theresa have been a contributory cause of the inte- rest shown ? According to Zedler, the town -had been devastated by a fire in 1727.
EDWARD BENSLY.
This was a. Protestant College at Debreczin In Hungary. Ten guineas were contributed by Magdalen College, where in the accounts the place is called Dribetzen. Corpus Christi College gave five guineas. Evidently the collection was general in Oxford.
W. D. MACRAE.
"Debitzen " appears to be Debreczen, situated 138 miles east of Budapest, and known as the centre of Protestantism in Hungary.
Its Protestant College, with its theology and law course, was founded in 1531, and is attended by over 2,000 students. Debreczen suffered frequently for its attachment to the Protestant faith, notably when it was cap- tured in 1686 by the Imperial forces. This fact probably accounts for the support which was given to its Professors in 1756 by jQueen's College, Oxford.
J. G. BURNETT.
" AN INCHALFFE HESPER " (11 S. xi. 267).
Is not this a misreading for " an in-calf heifer " ? Bequests <of farm stock to god- children and others abound in early wills.
JOHN PARKER. Browsholme.
I suggest that hesper in this case means "hesp," a reel to wind yarn, &c., upon. 'This is a meaning which the word has in the Yorkshire dialect. A hasp or hesp is in use in the North, and means a hank of yarn, a definite quantity, the fourth part of a spindle. ARCHIBALD SPARKE, F.R.S.L.
A reference to the * E.D. D.' (vol. iii. p. 78) suggests a clasp or buckle, though whether half -inch or inch and a half I am not clear.
A. C. C.
PICTURES AND PURITANS (11 S. xi. 151, 195,
217). It is quite probable that 4,560 pic- tures were destroyed in the period referred to. It was in 1645 that the Parliament ordered all pictures containing representations of Christ or the Virgin Mary to be burnt, and all others to be sold. But this was not the work of the Puritans. The Puritans were
not then in power. The Presbyterians were
then in the ascendant, and it is to them
we must attribute these acts of iconoclasm.
This is a mistake very often made. The
true Puritans were always in favour of
religious toleration, and, indeed, were the
first in this country to practise it. It was
Cromwell, a typical Puritan, who allowed
the Jews to return to England. It was
Cromwell who, at his own expense, saved
the celebrated cartoons of Raffaelle when
they were doomed to destruction by the
Parliament. Others of the Puritans, as
Fairfax and Lambert, were fully capable of
appreciating works of art, and would never
have had a hand in their destruction. But
the Puritan ascendancy did not come till
later. J. FOSTER PALMER.
8, Royal Avenue, S.W. . ,
ENGLISH CONSULS IN ALEPPO (11 S. xi. 182, 254). Since sending my reply, I have come across a few more facts bearing on this subject.
The first English Consul in Syria was Richard Forster, and it appears that h resided not at Aleppo, but at Tripoli. He received his appointment from William Hareborne, the first English Ambassador in Constantinople, on 20 June, 1583 (see Hakhryt's ' Principal Navigations,' &c., vol. v. p. 260, Glasgow, 1904).
As regards William. Barrett, whom Mr. GEO. JEFFERY puts down as first English Consul in Aleppo, he was residing in that town in the year 1583, and is mentioned ("our friend William Barrat [sic]") in " A letter of directions of the English Ambassadour to M. Richard Forster," dated 5 Sept., 1583 (Hakluyt, ibid., p. 263). But there is nothing to show that he occupied any official position. Forsters commis- sion explicitly states that he is " authorised Consul of the English nation in the parts of Alepo, Damasco, Aman, Tripolis, Jerusalem, &c." Besides, when Barrett died (towards the end of 1583 or at the beginning of 1584), his goods were handed over by the Turkish authorities to the Venetians (pre- sumably the representative of the Venetian Republic in Aleppo) under the misappre- lensioii that he was a Venetian, and the English Ambassador in Constantinople had d obtain a special " Commandment " from ohe Sultan ordering an investigation into Barrett's nationality, and the restitution of ais property (Hakluyt, ibid., p. 290). Such a question obviously could not have arisen if the deceased was " English Consul." The truth seems to me to be that William
