378
NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. iv. NOV. 4, mi.
in which stands an I (? an Egyptian cross) ;
or one resembling a trident standing on its
prongs, with a short handle capped by a
stroke ; or M .
The complications are puzzling, e.g., when what I have compared to a trident has the stroke cutting the handle instead of on the top, the symbol equals 100,000. Again, another symbol for 100,000 resembles the conventional feather of an arrow, a per- pendicular line supported on each side by three diagonal lines. The addition of one supporting line on each side raises the figure to 1,000,000. These are a few examples.
Following these numerical letters and sym- bols, which range from 1 to 10,000,000,000, are two notes. The first of these gives examples of the point or stop, often intro- duced to divide one character from another, when the number is expressed by more than one letter, e.g., C.XL ; C.D.XC.IX. The second gives the " marks frequently seen added to magical characters (see H. C. Agrippa, 'De Occulta Philosophia,' folio, 1533) " ; e.g., a plain Latin cross means ten ; the same minus the dexter arm means five ; the same cross plus a lower arm on the sinister side equals fifteen ; and so on, till the cross with o attached to the sinister arm means one thousand. Then follow " Roman characters, found in ancient Latin manuscripts. . . .seemingly arbitrary."
The dates given by F. R. F. in his query, amended on p. 315, are undoubtedly 1596, 1697, and 1579. MB. GRAY'S interpretations require the addition of 400 in each case.
The discussion concerning Roman nu- merals gives me an opportunity of asking the following question : Why, in English and, perhaps, other letterpress, is a full stop placed after the Roman numeral ?
I am open to correction, but I believe that the stop does not appear in ancient Roman inscriptions, except as dividing all words, numbers included, from one another.
I have inspected a good many coins, almost all of the nineteenth and this century English, French, Spanish, Prussian, Portu- guese, &c. In only two instances have I found the stop as, perhaps, the completion of the numeral : one is a twopenny piece of George III., dated 1797 ; the other is a 120-grani piece of Ferdinand II., King of the Two Sicilies, 1856. The intention of the stop above the line in the twopenny piece is doubtful. The half-crown (1817) and the crown (1820) of "George III" have no stop after the numeral. A rupee dated 1835 has "William IIII, King." The
comma divides IIII from King, and after
King comes a full stop, as, similarly, a full
stop follows 1835 on the reverse.
Our coins of the last King and of the present have VII and V respectively, with- out stops. The Roman numerals on the faces of clocks and watches have none.
One's bookbinder, unless he is forbidden to do so, as mine has been for many years, puts in the stop wherever he can, although it may be unnecessary. Perhaps it counts as a letter in the bill. According to my observation, one hardly ever finds the stop on " publisher's cloth " after the numbers of the volumes, or after the title, &c.
ROBEBT PlEBPOINT,
My answer to F. R. F.'s query was based on the Scottish method of enumeration, e.g., Nelson's monument at Forres, N.B., erected in 1806. The date is there expressed by looioooovi., which means that I before two reverse c's signifies 1000 ; I before one reverse c imports 500 ; 3 c letters indicate 300; vi, 6=1806 (People's Friend, 31 May, 1909). PATBICK GBAY.
Dundee.
The following from The Library World,. 1899-1900, vol. ii. p. 218, may help your querist :
" In old books M[ = 1000] is sometimes given ins this manner cio, and the D like 10, therefore CIOD is 1500. Look on the two cs which are equal to M, or 1000, as a circle, thus O, and consider it to be 1000 ; then by cutting it in two, ciO, you have two 500s."
Thus cio|io|xcvi = 1596 ; cio|ioc]xcvii = 1697; cio|D|LXxix=1579. F. C. C.
Huddersfield.
[It has been the general practice of printers to insert a full stop after Roman letters used as numerals for dates or to distinguish sovereigns bearing the same Christian name ; but the late Howard Collins in his ' Authors' and Printers' Guide,' which is intended as a style-book for printing-offices, advocates the omission of the- full stop in the above instances. In recent numismatic works the point is often omitted.
MR. GRAY reverses every c in his Nelson in- scription, thus introducing a fresh element of uncertainty.]
ROBEBT PABB, CENTENABIAN (11 S. iv.. 309). Although I cannot say whether there is an inscription at Kinver, Staffs, to the above, the following note, which I made from The Sheffield Advertiser of 16 November, 1792, may be of interest to your corre- spondent :
" Lately at Skiddy's Aim House in Cork, Cathe- rine Parr, aged 103, great-granddaughter of Thomas Parr of England."
CHAS. HALL CBDUCH.
