9 th S. I. JUNE 18, '98.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
497
extracts from the very interesting prefaces
and notes, which so impressed my auditory
that one after another kept the little work in
hand all the evening, and the confession was
made, " I had no idea those little books were
so interesting ; I thought them the driest of
school-books." With that anecdote, by way
of peace-offering, I part for the present on,
I hope, good terms with PROF. SKEAT.
J. P. OWEN. 72 (late 48), Comeragh Road, W.
- VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS ' (9 th S. i. 449).
I know no evidence for the suggestion that the long-metre version of this in the Prayer Book (" Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire ") was written by Dryden. It will be found in the ' Collection of Pious Devotions ' published by John Cosin, Bishop of Durham, in 1627, from which source it was inserted into the Anglican Ordinal of 1662. Dryden did com- pose a version or rather a paraphrase of the ' Veni Creator,' beginning " Creator Spirit, by whose aid." It occurs in vol. i. of his 'Miscellaneous Works ' (ed. 1760).
OSWALD HUNTER BLAIR, O.S.B.
Fort Augustus, N.B.
The ascription of the translation in the English Ordinal to Dryden is a mere guess. His own independent rendering of the hymn is well known. See Julian's ' Hymnology.' EDWARD H. MARSHALL, M.A.
Hastings.
The authorship of this hymn has been dis- cussed in ' N. & Q.,' but in no instance has the translation been attributed to Dryden. See 2 nd S. i. 145, 200, 261, 280, 432 ; ii. 309, 474. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.
71, Brecknock Road.
ROLLS IN AUGMENTATION OFFICE (9 th S. i. 368, 457). For authentic information as to the Rolls in the Augmentation Office, as now existing and (to some extent) indexed, see Mr. Scargill-Bird's ' Guide to the Principal Classes or Documents preserved in the Public Record Office.' The first edition describes these rolls under the head of 'Ministers' Accounts.' I do not happen to have a copy of the new edition. Q. V.
HASTED'S * HISTORY OF KENT ' (9 th S. i. 445).
-AYEAHR'S statement as to the misprint in the pagination is clearly correct, and is cer- tainly worth noting. At the end of vol. ii. there is, following the index, ' Additions and Corrections,' and at p. 72, under the head 'Errata,' there is this correction: "P. 249, wrong paged from 249 to 252, for which r. p. 249, 250, 251, 252." This is a clumsy way
of correcting
column, some
the error,
corrections
At p. 68,
are made,
first
and
reference is made to some of these pages as
if the misprint had not occurred. At the
beginning of the volume there is a note
speaking of " the length of time it has neces-
sarily been in the press," and "the candid
reader " is particularly requested " to refer to
the Table of Additions and Corrections at
the end." All librarians will be glad to be
informed that there are no pages missing in
vol. ii. H. B. P.
Temple.
" PICKSOME " (8 th S. x. 516; xi. 112). This expressive word is used by Sir Walter Besant :
" To the adult who is picksome, jelly of Siberian crab, which is soft and silky to the palate as they say of claret and of tea is preferable [i.e., to goose- berry jam]." ' A Glorious Fortune,' one of a volume of tales, 'Uncle Jack,' &c., 1895, p. 197.
JAMES HOOPER.
PROCESSIONS (9 th S. i. 388). Burton, de- scribing the ceremony of Tawaf, or circurn- ambulation, of the Ka'abah in chap, xxvii. of the ' Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah,' has the following in a foot-note :
" The Moslem in circumambulation presents his left shoulder ; the Hindu's Pradakshina consists in walking round with the right side towards the fane or idol. Possibly the former may be a modification of the latter, which would appear to be the original form of the rite. Its conjectural significance is an imitation of the procession of the heavenly bodies, the motions of the spheres, and the dances of the angels. These are also imitated in the circular
whirlings of the Darwayshes It was adopted by
the Greeks and Romans, whose Ambarvalia and Amburbalia appear to be Eastern superstitions, ntroduced by Numa, or by the priestly line of princes, into their pantheism. And our processions round the parish preserve the form of the ancient ites whose life is long since fled."
In the account of his 'Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome,' Burton notes that when at Whydah the native warriors marched round rim they showed him the left shoulder, but the right was always presented to the king. BEN. WALKER.
Langstone, Erdington.
P.S. I have just come across the following in ' La Liturgie Expliquee,' by the Abbe F. Massard. Describing the office of the Epi- phany, he says :
"A la procession, dans plusieurs eglises, 011 suit une marche contrail a celle des autres dimaiiches, pour rappeler que les Mages s'en retourn^rent dans leur pays par un autre cliemin que celui qui les avait amenes."
'The Ritual Reason Why' states that a
procession in the English Church "starts from
