276
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[10 S. X. OCT. 3, 1908.
in i'at. If I remember aright, they were
kept in a flat wooden box without ends,
as they were very easily broken ; and in
earlier days, when they were in general
request, the candle-holder was used, of which
there are various types.
There seems to be some confusion between rushlights and rush candles. The latter were to be bought up to the seventies, and pro- bably are still, as they give a quiet light, requiring no attention, and were much used in sickrooms. M. N.
Westmorland.
In ' The Pickwick Papers,' in the account of the bedroom at " The Great White Horse " at Ipswich, Dickens has described one of the perforated iron shades for burning rushlights, and Phiz has depicted it. These articles are by no means uncommon.
JOHN PICKFORD, M.A.
[M. N.'s closing words well describe the tiny round boxes which are generally known as "night- lights."]
SPANISH WORKS IN BORROW (10 S. x. 150). Del Rio's book on magic has been re- printed many times. M. Alphonse Le Roy in his article on Martin Antoine Del Rio in the fifth volume of the ' Biographie Nationale,' published by the Academie Royale de Belgique, enumerates the follow- ing editions of the ' Disquisitionum Magi- carum Libri VI. ' : Mainz, 1593, fol. (editio princeps) ; Louvain, 1599, 4to ; Mainz, 1600, 2 vols., 8vo ; Louvain, 1601, 4to Mainz, 1603, fol. (corrected and enlarged), and 1606, 3 vols., 8vo (with fresh correc- tions and additions) ; Lyons, 1608 and 1612, fol. ; Liege, Louvain, and Mainz, 1624, 4to Cologne, 1633, 4to ; Venice, 1640, 4to Cologne, 1659, 4to, and 1679, 4to ; Venice, 1747, 4to.
A French resume was published at Paris in 1611 by Andre Duchesne, S.J.
There are frequent references to the ' Disquisitiones ' in Burton's ' Anatomy of Melancholy.' A copy of one of the later quarto editions ought to be procurable for a few shillings. I cannot now remember where my own came from. It was probably bought from the catalogue of some German second-hand bookseller.
EDWARD BENSLY.
Haus Schellenberg, Marburg.
" T' WIFE BAZAAR " (10 S. ix. 207, 416 ; x. 118, 237). No man doubts that wives have been put up for auction in Christian England, and it is useful to have the records of the practice furnished by your corre- spondents ; but, as the introducer of the
subject of the " Bazaar," may I be allowed
to point out that so far nobody has told u*
anything about the contract drawn up and
signed by the couples who are rearranging
matters, or has said whether the West
Riding miners still " sworp wives month o'
May," as in Lady Catherine Milnes Gaskell's-
story ?
I dare say MR. HARRY HEMS (10 S. ix. 416) has ere now observed that it was the use of childers, and not of childer, that startled me.
ST. SWITHIN.
EPITAPH IN OWEN MSS. (10 S. x. 210). Probably the inscription was meant to consist of two Latin hexameters. I am afraid they are of a very poor, not to say of a dog-Latin, type. I read it thus :
MORS HOMINEM MISERVM VOCAT ETAS ANGELV(M) AVTEM.
C(O)RDE SENEX SOPHIA(E) sis I(V)NCTVS. VISERIS
ILLVM.
The use of angelum, with unelided m f seems- required by the grammar. As to corde, I suppose that c has been read as o, and that o filled the blank space. We further require- an e and a v (for u). Even thus, I hesitate to say that it makes much sense. But I translate it, tentatively, thus :
" Death calls man a wretch, but life (i.e. etas for "ita) calls him an angel. O man old in heart, be- joined to wisdom, (and) you shall see him." I.e., you will see him in heaven, if you* retain your wisdom.
No doubt the epitaph was first thought out in English, and then turned into Latin with indifferent success ; and I fear it is worth- less, though certainly, like a fly in amber, it is curious. WALTER W. SKEAT.
I venture to suggest that the inscription
given by your correspondent should be readi
somewhat as follows :
MORS HOMINEM PVERVM VOCAT JETAS ANGEL VS AVTEMi COELESTEM HVNC SOPHIA SI CINCTVS VISERIS ILLVM.
Or, in place of CINCTVS, DVCTVS. This may be turned in English : Death beckoned to the mould of earth,
Life to the boy, An angel called the heavenly birth
Back to its joy. To Wisdom's vision clear So 'twill appear.
G. C. MOORE SMITH. Sheffield.
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S HOUSEHOLD AND- PRIVY COUNCIL (10 S. x. 147). I do not known of any printed list of names of the officers of Queen Elizabeth's Household, but no doubt the names could be obtained by examining the " Wardrobe and Household
