us. xii. JULY 24, i9io.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
77
formed by moulding or modifying quotations
from classical authors.
A similar thought to that of the present say-ing, besides occurring, as SLEUTH-HOUND says, in Dion Chrysostom, is found in Livy, vi. 18, 7, " Ostendite modo bellum pacem habebitis," and in Publilius Syrus, 465, Prospicere in pacem oportet, quod bellum iuvet.
2. " Veni, vidi, vici." Suetonius, ' Divus lulius,' 37, says that an inscription with these words was carried in Caesar's Pontic triumph. But the earliest passage in litera- ture where the Latin words occur appears to be in the elder Seneca's ' Suasoriae,' ii. 22, "" ne insolens barbarus dicat : ' ueni, uidi,
Biichmann, who quotes the above, suggests
that Caesar's remark may be an adaptation
of a proverb given by Apostolius, xii. 58 :
vO Kocrpos cr/o/v?/, 6 ftios Trdpo&os' ?}X^e
EDWARD BENSLY.
' EXCERPTA LEGATIONUM ' (11 S. xii. 30).
An encyclopaedic series of extracts from
Greek historians was compiled in the tenth
-century by order of the Emperor Constan-
tine VII., Porphyrogenitus. The collection
consisted of fifty-three volumes ; four of
these have come down to us in a more or less
imperfect state, and depending in each case
on a single MS. The codex that contained
the ' De Legationibus ' (Hepi Hpeo-ySewi/)
perished by fire at the Escurial in 1671. A
new edition of the He/oi Hp&r/S&ov (part i.,
' Excerpt a de legationibus Romanorum ad
gentes ' ; part ii., ' Excerpta de legationibus
gentium ad Romanes') appeared at Berlin
.in 1903 as vol. i. of ' Excerpta Historica iussu
Imp. Constantini Porphyrogeniti confecta,'
under the editorship of Prof. C. de Boor, the
Librarian of the University of Breslau, who
had been engaged over twenty years in the
design of this complete edition of the ' Ex-
cerpta.' EDWARD BENSLY.
OLD CITY RATE- BOOKS (11 S. ix. 68). The bulk of the old City rate - books passed into the possession of the Corporation under the provisions of the City of London (Union of Parishes) Act, 1907, and are preserved in the Valuation and Rating Department of the Guildhall. Some of the books had been sent in to the Library prior to the passing of the Act, consequently search has at present to be made in the two departments, some- what inconveniently.
Several parishes possessed rate -books dating from the latter part of the seventeenth
century, though it does not appear that St.
Giles, Cripplegate, is included among these.
From the extreme lateness of such books as
pertain to this parish in the custody of the
Corporation, however, the suspicion arises
that the earlier books have not been sent in.
And it may not unreasonably be supposed
that other records of this class still remain
in parochial custodv, notwithstanding the
Act.
A really complete gathering together of these and other old parish records of the City, already possessed in considerable number by the Guildhall Library, and the issue of a printed catalogue, would be a useful work.
It may be worth noting in connexion with St. Giles's that the Churchwardens' Accounts, 1570-80, and 1596-1608, are to be found in the British Museum (Add. MS. 12,222).
WILLIAM MCMURRAY.
HOLCROFT OF VALE ROYAL (4 S. vi. 472 ;
11 S. x. 130, 175). The first Sir Thomas Holcroft had a house in the City c. 1547, as appears from an entry in the record of an assessment cf the second portion of the sub- sidy of 37 Hen. VIII. In the parish of SS. Anne and Agnes is mention of " Sir Thomas Holcroft, assessed in landys & ffees at C 11 , to pay x 11 ." (See my * Chronicle,' paragraph 67, p. 16.)
WILLIAM MCMURRAY.
St. Anne and St. Agnes with St. John Zachary, Gresham Street, E.C.
' REVELATIONS OF PETER BROWN '(US. xii. 30).
" The Revelations I of I Peter Brown | Poet and Peripatetic | found in his black box | by j Jonathan Freke Slingsby | (John Francis Waller) London | Cassell, Fetter, &. Galpin | Ludgate hill, and 596, Broadway, New York I Dublin, M'Glashan & Gill, 50, Up. Sackville S fc ."
The above is an exact transcript of the title- page of the work which is the subject of MR. ROBERT RAYNER'S inquiry. There is no date on the title-page, but the preface is dated June, 1870.
The contents of the little book are as follows :
1. Magdalena.
2. Isabel Clare.
3. Win and Wear.
4. The Knight of the darter.
5. St. John's of Shottesbrooke.
I knew John Francis Waller well in my youth ; he was Registrar to the Rolls Court in Ireland, and connected with numerous literary societies in Dublin. He died in London in 1894, and there is a full account of his life and works in the ' JD.N.B.' vol. lix.
