n s. ix. APRIL is, i9i4j NOTES AND QUERIES.
315
are no feuer than three slabs, all bearing the
five crosses ; some of them have been used
subsequently as tombstones. When the
chancel floor of Bishop Middleham Church,
co. Durham, was being repaired a few years
ago, the altar-slab with hollow - chamfered
edges was discovered. The vicar (the Rev.
M. Parker) had it removed and placed under
the Communion table, where it is now.
R. B R.
JEREMIAH HORROCKS (11 S. ix. 187, 278). On pp. 238-9 of No. 30 of Chatterbox for 23 June, 1874, is a very pretty children's story of Jeremiah Horrocks, by M. P. ; and on p. 240 is a wood-engraving portrait of the astronomer with his telescope, but whether it is imaginary or not I cannot tell. I should be pleased to lend it to any one who would like to see it.
" BILLION," "TRILLION," &c. (11 S. ix. 228, 278). I was always taught at school that a billion was a million times a million,
and not two millions ; that a trillion was a million times a million times a million, and
1 . . Q 3
not three millions ; that a quadrillion was a million times a million times a million
times a million, and not four millions. And
4
so on quintillion, &c. until we were exhausted ! WILLIAM BULL.
House of Commons.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (US. ix. 270). Quotations 1 and 2 are from 'The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Play ' in the Towneley MS. A version with modernized spelling is printed in ' Everyman, and Other Old Religious Plays,' in the " Everyman's Library. The Towneley Plays have been printed from the original MS. by the Surtees Society and the Early English Text Society. Neither of the quotations is quite correct. In the "Everyman" edition they are as follows :
1. 1st Shepherd. Lord ! what, these weathers are cold, arid I am ill happed ;
I am near hand-dold, so long have I napped ; My legs bend and fold, my fingers are chapped, It is not as I would, for I am all lapped In sorrow.
2. 2nd Shepherd. Lord, these weathers are spitous, and the weather full keen ;
And the frost so hideous they water mine een,
No lie.
Now in dry, now in wet, Now in snow, now in sleet, When my shoon freeze to my feet
It is not all easy.
The author of the play is unknown.
M. H. DODDS.
MAGISTRATES WEARING HATS ON THE
BENCH (11 S. ix. 189, 253). R. B. P.'s
query calls back to my mind a belief, quite
unfounded perhaps, but current in my boy-
hood, in the late eighties and in the nineties,
to the effect that a police officer could not
make a valid arrest bare-headed or rather,
that in order to make an arrest he must be
wearing his helmet at the moment of making
such arrest. The helmet seemed to be, then,
the essential part of the officer's insignia
the real badge of his office. This may
explain (though it may be somewhat far-
fetched) why prisoners endeavoured to
knock off the helmet when the officer was
attempting arrest, and perhaps, top, the
shouts of the crowd, desirous of aiding the
prisoner to escape, " Knock his hat off."
Daudet in * Tartarin de Tarascon ' hit off
the important role played by the kepi in
Algeria.
It may be worth while to note that cover- ing the 'head and keeping it so while per- forming some act of jurisdiction is quite common. For instance, the Pope wears his tiara at solemn acts of jurisdiction e.g., in giving solemn dogmatic decisions (vide 'Cath. Ency.,' art. 'Tiara'). Likewise the priest wears his biretta, especially when performing any act of jurisdiction e.g., reconciling a convert.
" It was formerly the rule that a priest should always wear it in giving absolution in confession, and it is probable that the ancient usage which requires an English judge to assume the 'black ca,p ' is identical in origin." 'Cath. Ency., Herbert Thurston, art. ' Biretta.' I am under the impression that, in conferring academic degrees, the one who confers the degrees ke'eps his head covered during the ceremony.
The following instance is more analogous to that mentioned by R. B. P. ; it is a description of the passing of sentence at a French court-martial :
" En avant, les sept officiers avaient repris leurs places, mais debout, le kepi ou le casque sur la tete, la main gauche touchant la poignee
du sabre Le colonel recitait des formules, des
nume'ros d'articles, puis des phrases trop claires, d'une precision terrible." Rene Bazin, ' De toute son Ame,' chap, xxviii.
Again, whereas most Christian men remove their headgear on entering a place of religious worship, soldiers, sailors, and policemen remain with heads covered when detailed for duty in such places.
The "reason for thus keeping the head covered in these various situations may, of course, be the very obvious and prosaic one, for mere protection at first, before the
