AN INTERESTING MS. BOOK.-I have been shown a curious and interesting little book in manuscript, which has been in the family of the present owner (himself a Jew) for more than a century, and is a translation of a work written in very remote antiquity. The title is as follows:"The Jews' Catechism, containing the Thirteen Articles of the Jewish Religion, formerly translated out of Hebrew, with a Prefatory Discourse against Atheism. Writ by me, David de Castro, in Dublin this 4th March, 1727." -- "Seeing with a bleeding heart the miseries that we are involved in by the wickedness, depravity, and vitiousness of the present age, and youth being like a tender plant, which produceth according to the care taken of it, I am fir'd with zeal for the reprinting of this edition, it being very useful for the education of youth, and to initiate them into the knowledge of God and the laws of nature. It was originally writ in Hebrew by Rabby Abm. Jagel, by the title of Good Advice or Doctrine, translated into Latin by the learned Ludovicus de Campeigne de Veil, and thence into English in 1680, by the title of the Jews' Catechism." Can any of your readers give me information about this work? Has it ever been printed? and if so, where are copies to be seen or obtained? and what is their value? What is known of Rabby Jagel? and what would be the best mode of ascertaining the value of the MS. described? Dr. Benisch has pronounced that no such catechism is known among Jews of the present day. Chelmsford. AN OLD SONG. F. H. MEGGY. "When some sad swain shall teach the grove These lines occur in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, and Miss Seward, in her Letters, vol. vi., writes : "Sir Walter Scott refers in them to an old song, entitled 'My sheep I've neglected, I've lost my sheephook-music by Dr. Arne.' Can any correspondent give any information about this old song, or furnish a copy of the words? K. L. THE WONDROUS FLITTING OF THE KIRK OF OUR BLEST LADY OF LAURETO.— "The Kirk of Laureto was a caumber of the house of the Blest Virgin neir Jerusalem, in the towne of Nazaret, in whilk she was borne and teende up and greeted by the Angel, and thairin also conceaved and nourisht her caumber, efter the Ascensione of our B. Saviour, was by the Apostles Hallowed and made a Kirk in honor of our B. Ledy, and S. Luke framed a pictur to her vary Likness thair zit to be seine. It was haunted with mucale devotione by the folke of the lande, whar it steid als lang as they were Catholiks. Bot whan they foseckte the Christen fath and went efter the errour of Mahomet, the Angels tooket and sat it in Sclavonia by a toune nemmed Flumen, whar net being honored as it sould, they transported it over sea to a wood in the bounds of Recanati, take it nem of B. Ledy of Laureto, thence agen for belonginge to a noble dame called Laureta, frae whom it cause of many theifries to a hill of twa Brothers in the same Bounds, and lastly, for theire striving for the gifts and oblations, to the high road neir by whar it zit stands mervellous for mirakels, and above ground wichout foundatione, wharat the indwellers of the toune of Recanati, wha caum oft to see it, meikle wondring bigged a great wall about it. Zit caude ne man tel wherefrae it cam first, whill in the zeir 1296 the B. V. in sleipe revelled it to a helly devote man, and he telled it to divers of authority." sonne Jeshus whill he was twalle zear aud. This Where can this legend be met with? I have copied it from a manuscript. Is it the one generally received? WATERLOO BRIDGE. GEORGE MACKEY. Concerning Waterloo Bridge. A bridge over this part of the Thames was repeatedly suggested during the last century, but no actual preparation to carry it into effect was made till 1806, when Mr. Dodd procured an Act of Parliament, and gave the present site, plan, and dimensions of the bridge; but, in consequence of some disagreement with the committee, he was superseded by Mr. Rennie, who completed this noble structure. It was commenced 11th October, 1811, and was finished 18th June, 1817, on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, when the Prince Regent, the Duke of Wellington, and other distinguished persons were present at the opening. within the balustrades is 42 feet; and the span of each Its length within the abutments is 1,242 feet; its width arch, of which there are nine, is 120 feet."-Weekly Dispatch. If this statement is correct, Mr. Dodd is the designer of the bridge, although Mr. Rennie's name alone is associated with it. Any particulars on the subject would be interesting. St. John's Wood. GEORGE ELLIS. 39, EVERSFIELD PLACE, HASTINGS.-Can any one tell me why Eversfield Place at Hastings has no No. 39? I have inquired more than once at Hastings, and have never been able to learn the reason, and I believe that a great many of the residents are quite unaware of the fact. It was brought to my notice about eleven years ago when I was staying at No. 48, Eversfield Place, and a friend who came down to see me for a few days went out one morning before breakfast, and came in announcing his discovery. There are sixty-six houses, but, as there is no No. 39,* of course the last house is numbered 67. The only guess I can make is, that they began to number at both ends, and that it had been supposed there were sixty-seven houses instead of sixty-six. There is no trace of two houses having been thrown into one. I believe it is considered somewhat of a joke at Hastings to give 39, Eversfield Place, as one's address. Sydenham Hill. F. CHANCE. JEWISH PHYSIOGNOMY.-In Sir J. G. Wilkinson's Popular Account of the Ancient Egyptians (Murray, 1854), vol. ii. page 198, there are some interesting remarks on the type of features belonging to the Jews of the East. It is said that the prominent nose is a mark of the Syrians, and not of the ancient or modern Jews of Judæa; and that, if it is found in a Jew now living there, it is a proof of mixture with a Western family. The Jews of the East (it is said) often have red hair and blue eyes, with a nose of delicate form and nearly straight, and are quite unlike their brethren of Europe, and the children in modern Jerusalem have the pink and white complexions of Europeans. Are these statements confirmed by the observations of other travellers? Has any attempt been made to account for the difference in colour and type of features between the European and Oriental Jews? J. C. RUST. The Vicarage, Soham, Cambridgeshire. "DEFEAT OF THE SWITZERS."-Where can this tune be found? It is mentioned, it seems, by Brantome in his account of Mdlle. de Limeuil. That lady had it played over and over again to her on the violin by her servant Julian : "Play it to me, Julian,' she said, 'and play on until you see me quite dead; and when you come to the words all's gone, play it four or five times over, as dolefully as you can.' Julian did so, and she accompanied with her voice. When they came to All's gone, she repeated it twice, turned her head on the pillow, and said to her companions, "All's gone now, indeed," and so expired. I have read that it is recorded by Vittorio Siri, though on what authority he gives it I know not, that Queen Elizabeth, when dying, sat on her bed with her eyes fixed on the ground and one of her fingers on her mouth, and that she listened with great delight to her musicians, whom she had sent for to play to her. The sounds seemed to *I was at Hastings very recently, and there is still no No. 39. soothe her, and she continued to listen to them to her very last gasp. C. A. WARD. M'KENZIE FAMILY.-Can you give me any information concerning the family of M'Kenzie? The particular member of that clan whose pedigree I wish to find is one James Elder, whose father took the name of Elder, "because," I am told, "he was the head of the clan M'Kenzie." This James Elder (alias M'Kenzie) married, in Barbadoes, Elizabeth Thomas, sister of Mr. Lynch Thomas, and aunt of Sir John Thomas. He had by her thirteen children-ten sons, who all d.s.p. of fever in the West Indies, and three daughters, the youngest of whom, Margaret, married the Rev. William Garnett, Rector of St. Michael's, Bridgetown, Barbadoes. If I may be allowed to make two queries at once, I should also like to know if Lynch Thomas was connected with the Thomases of Yapton, whose ancestor was colonel of the Barbadoes regiment. W. G. TAUNTON. SAMUEL B. HALL is author of Poems, 1839, Halifax, Yorkshire. The author resided, I believe, for many years at Skipton in Craven, and died about eight years ago. What is the precise date of his death? "ZAPPHIRA," a tragedy, in three acts, 1792. Anon., published by Ridgway. Who is author? At the end of Modern Comedy, a dramatic piece published by Ridgway in 1792, the tragedy of Zapphira is advertised as by a nobleman. SCOTT HAMILTON.-Can any of your Belfast readers give me information regarding the author of Garibaldi, a drama, 1864: printed by J, Johnston, 24, High Street, Belfast? S. Hamilton is also author of Almomah and Sacred Dramas. What are the titles of his sacred dramas, and what is the date and place of their publication? R. INGLIS. 1813. It is part of the addenda to the Monthly Lilian Road, Barnes, Surrey. Kingston. JOCK OF ARDEN.-Who was this hero of Warwickshire folk-lore? I have been told that his adventures are immortalized in chap-book form, but I never met with them. you JOHN EVANS, THE NECROMANCER. - Can refer me to contemporary accounts of this man? C. E. B. "JESUITISM AND METHODISM."-Who was the authoress of this tale, published by Saunders & Otley in 1829? A new edition, condensed, polished, slightly altered, and with a different title, would in these days probably attract considerable notice. E. C. L. F. THE PUBLIC WORSHIP ACT.-Whence, when, and how came Bishops and Archbishops to address candidates previous to and after laying on of hands in "The Order of Confirmation" of the Established Church? Is it not illegal for them to do so? AARON ROBERTS, M.A. Carmarthen. Replies. "ITE MISSA EST." (5th S. iv. 209.) lib. i., aliique."-Carli, Bibliotheca Liturgica, vol. ii. The same author states that, though the words Ite missa est are said by Radulphus to have been introduced by Leo, they are of earlier origin, "cum et in Liturgia, quae D. Petri nomine decoratur, necnon in aliis Liturgiis Orientalibus consimiles sæpius legantur adstantium populorum dimissiones" (Pars i. Tit. xiii.). "The Latin word missa is a contraction of missio, which signifies a dismissal or permission to depart as soon as the sacrifice is completed. Such abbreviations are not unusual with profane as well as ecclesiastical writers. "The origin of denominating the holy eucharistic sacrifice by the term Mass, or dismissal, arose from a ceremony which, in the earliest ages of the Church, was observed on two several occasions, and still continues to be practised once during its celebration. "Immediately after the reading of the Gospel, and the delivery of the sermon by the bishop, the deacon turned about to the assembly, and in an elevated tone of voice admonished the different persons who composed it, that the initiated only might remain, and consequently the unbaptized and unbeliever were required to depart. As soon as the eucharistic sacrifice was terminated, the deacon proclaimed to the congregated faithful that they might withdraw. This he announced by a form of speech which to the present day remains in use-Ite missa est: "Go, leave is given to depart"; hence arose, in the earliest ages, amongst our venerable predecessors in the faith, a custom of denominating the second part of the sacred Liturgy, the Mass of the Faithful.' From this we gather that the whole of the hended under two general divisions, to each of which Liturgy, or public service, was by the ancients comprethey assigned a distinctive appellation. The first was termed the Mass of the Catechumens-Missa Catechumenorum'; the second the Mass of the Faithful— Missa Fidelium.'"-Rock's Hierurgia, p. 209. In a note Dr. Rock gives the passages in Tertullian and St. Cyprian referred to above, in which they use the word remissa for remissio. Hendred House, Wantage. C. J. E. These words have no exceptional connexion with "the Latin mass," but were in use in the Church from the earliest times. Missa Missio, and is so used by classical writers; e. g., Cicero, in his 5th Philippic, says, "Legiones bello confecto missas fieri"; and Suetonius, in Caligula, The following extracts from well-known litur-"Brevi missam fecit." As employed by the Primigical authors will perhaps be the best reply to this tive Church, the word missa had a much wider question:signification than that conveyed by its English equivalent. It had then no special reference to the sacrament of the altar, but was used indiscriminately of other parts of divine service. Cardinal Bona says (lib. i. c. i. § vi.) :— "Vox missa latina est, ac a mittendo dicta. Explosis enim placitis autumantium missæ nomen hebraicum, græcum aut alterius idiomatis esse, latinum indubitatum stabilit post alios ementissimus Bona (Rer. Liturg. tom. i. pag. 3). Missa idem ac missio est, inquit laudatus auctor, sicut remissam pro remissione dicebant antiqui. Id offerunt Tertullianus, lib. iv. Advers. Marcion., cap. 18, Cyprianus, de Bono Patien., Optatus Milevitanus, : "Missio autem in veteri ecclesia duplex erat; una post evangelium et sermonem, quando catechumeni, infideles, pœnitentes, et alii, quibus vetitum erat sacramen torum participationi interesse, a diacono dimittebantur hac voce, Si quis est catechumenus, exeat foras': vel ut dicit Gregorius, lib. ii. Dialog. c. xxiii., 'Si quis non communicat, det locum'; et hæc dicebatur 'missa,' seu missio catechumenorum. Altera erat initiatorum, quum re divina peracta eos diaconus dimittebat dicens, Ite, missa est'; et hæc missa fidelium' vocabatur." Earlier than this, St. Ambrose, in the letter to his sister Marcellina (Ep. xx. § 4), has :-"Ego tamen mansi in munere, missam facere cœpi"; where the Benedictine edition has a note that it seems to be said of the sacrifice itself," and not of "the dismissal," or there would be an "extremely improper use " of "cœpi" (Ed. Par., 1836, tom. iv. p. 267). The manner in which the transference of the word from the dismissal to the service itself took place has been thus stated : The dismissal in the ancient Church was of two kinds; one after the Gospel and the sermon, when the catechumens (or candidates for baptism), unbelievers, penitents, and others, who were prohibited a participation in the sacraments, were by the deacon dismissed with these words, If 66 any Il est plus probable qu'il [le nom messe] vient catechumen be present, let him withdraw"; or, as du Latin missio, renvoi, parce qu'après les prières et les Gregory says, "If any one does not communicate, instructions qui précèdent l'oblation des dons sacrés, on renvoyoit, les catéchumènes et les pénitents: les fidèles. let him give place"; and this was called the missa, seuls, que l'on supposoit dignes de participer au saint or the dismissal of the catechumens. The other sacrifice, avoient droit d'être témoins de la célébration. was of the initiated, whom, after the divine ordi- C'est l'étymologie que Saint Augustin, Saint Avit de nance had been celebrated, the deacon dismissed Vienne, et Saint Isidore de Séville ont donné de ce terme. with the words, "Ite, missa est," and this was Par analogie, l'on a souvent donné le nom de messe à tous called missa fidelium, the dismissal of the faithful.les offices du jour et de la nuit."-Bergier, Dict. de Theol., s. v. "Messe." Par., 1863. Missa, no doubt, is the passive participle of mitto, agreeing, perhaps, with ecclesia in ellipse. The English then would be, "The assembly, as to your part in it, is dissolved." Bingham says (Christian Antiq., vol. iv. p. 80, 8vo. 1844): ED. MARSHALL. This does not mean "Go, you are dismissed," but " Go, mass is now going to be celebrated," Low Latin missa, called in England masse or messe, French, German, Danish, messe, Spanish misa, as "celebrar o decir misa," Italian messa, or massa, &c. The words were addressed to the catechumens, who were dismissed before the celebration of high mass. E. COBHAM BREWER. Lavant, Chichester. "Mabillon very judiciously remarks further, that the word missa has at least three significations. It sometimes signifies the lessons,' sometimes the collects, or prayers, and sometimes the dismission of the people." And, indeed, the third sense is the original notation of the word. For missa is the same as missio, and it was the form used in the Latin Church, Ite, missa est, which answers to the Greek ̓Απολύεσθε and Προέλθετε, the solemn words used at the dismission of the catechumass, but is equal_to_dimissio. mens first, and then of the whole assembly afterwards, Dictionary of Base Latin. The English will then at the end of their respective services. When the be, "Go, this is the dismissal." services at last took their names from these solemn dismissions; the one being called missa catechumenorum, and the other missa fidelium; neither of which ever signify more than the divine service at which the one or the other attended." EDMUND TEW, M.A. The meanings with which the word missa is used are thus expressed by Thomas Aquinas : "Et propter hoc etiam missa nominatur; quia per angelum sacerdos preces ad Deum mittit, sicut populus per sacerdotem: vel quia Christus est hostia nobis missa a Deo: unde et in fine missæ diaconus in festis diebus populum licentiat, dicens, ite, missa est, scilicet hostia ad Deum per angelum, ut scilicet sit Deo accepta." -Summa, iii. q. 83, a: 4, ad. 9. But in Suicer's Thesaurus, s. v. añoλvσis, there are several passages from Greek writers and Liturgies in which απολυσις, οι απολυσις εκκλησias, is shown to be the usual expression for the dismissal of the people from church or other assemblies, as arоλvσis feaтроv; and so also from a Latin writer, Cassian, who died, as it is said, A.D. 448:-"Sed congregationis missam stans præ foribus præstolatur" (lib. iii. c. 7, de Canob. Instit.). Probably missa is not here the name of the Bexhill. C. F. S. WARREN, M.A. "RIFLE ET RAFLE": "NI RIF NI RAF" (5th S. iii. 129.) -DR. E. C. BREWER gives "avoir rifle et rafle" as meaning "to have everything"; but I much doubt, as apparently does also M. GAUSSERON, whether he has any authority for it, and whether rifle and rafle can be used in an affirmative sentence. DR. BREWER seems to me to have evolved the phrase out of Cotgrave's on n'y a laissé ne rifle ne rafle, they have swept all away," just as he probably made up his "il n'a laissé ni rif ni raf," which is not found in modern French dictionaries, out of Cotgrave's "il ne luy lairra [i.e., laissera] rif ne raf, he will strip, reaue, or deprive him of all." But because "ni rifle ni rafle" means "nothing," it by no means follows that "rifle et rafle" means "everything." The first of the above two phrases I also find in Littré (s. v. "Rafle"), who quotes the following, "Pillez, rongez jusques aux os sans y laisser rifle ou rafle," from Gerson, Harengue du Roi Charles VI., p. 18, and explains rafle in this phrase to mean a grappe de raisin qui n'a plus de grains," or the bare stalks of a bunch of grapes, which are worth nothing, so that rafle virtually equals nothing. Rafle is also written raffe and rape, and thus raf may well rafle, and, indeed, Cotgrave defines rif in the phrase quoted as = rien. Littré identifies rafle in this sense with the Ital. rappa cluster, and derives both from the Germ. Rappe (or Rapp), which has identically the same meaning as that given above to rafle. He dissociates this rafle, therefore, from the much better known French word rafle, as in faire rafle=rafter, to make a clean sweep, to sweep away, and that there is a marked distinction is, I think, shown by the use of the verb faire with the one and the very different verb laisser with the other. This second rafle he connects with the Germ. raffen, to snatch up, sweep away. But even this rafle might, so it seems to me, have well come to mean "anything worthless," for in faire rafle and rafler, as in the Germ. raffen, there is a notion of indiscriminate snatching up or sweeping away, and where there is no discrimination in the selection, much that is worthless must be snatched up or swept away. Comp. the Germ. Raff-holz, which is used of small bits of wood picked up of trifling value, and our raff in riff-raff, defined by Webster "refuse, sweepings." I have not considered rifle and rif, because it seems to me that they are the same words with the a altered into i, as is so commonly seen in reduplication, as e.g. in riff-rafft just quoted. There is, however, the antiquated or old Fr. verb rifler our to rifle, and Burguy derives it from a Low Germ. verb riffen=raffen, but which I do not find in this sense; and this being so, the reduplication is all the more vivid, both the members having or seeming to have some meaning. I will refer the reader to my note on Zin-zan" (5th S. iii. 117), where I have spoken of the reduplication of words. Sydenham Hill. F. CHANCE. means "Pédoncule central ou axe d'une grappe, principalement d'une grappe de raisin ou d'un épi. Quelques uns disent raffe et d'autres râpe :— "XV S. 'Pillez, rongez jusqu'aux os sans y laisser riffle ou raffle.-Gerson, Harengue au Roi Charles VI., p. 18." 2. When rafle is derived from the Dutch "rappe, teigne," and means "Nom donné dans quelques provinces à une maladie éruptive de la vache. On la nomme aussi échauboulure, rave ou feu :— "XV S. 'Hélas! j'ai goute miseraigne, j'ai rifle et rafle et roigne et taigne, j'ai fièvre lente et suis podagre.' -Mir. de Ste. Genevieve." “Ni rif ni raf” is not mentioned by Littré. MATHILDE VAN EYS. I refer M. HENRI GAUSSERON to the Études de Paris, Librairie de Firmin Didot Frères, 1856, Philologie Comparée, par Francisque-Michel, P. 359: l'on avait tout emporté, il disait qu'on n'avait laissé n "Au XVIIe siècle, quand quelqu'un voulait dire que rif ni raf, ou ni rifle ni rafle; car Cotgrave et Oudin donnent les deux." The Dict. of Phrase and Fable says: "The French have the expression avoir rifle et rafle, whence... the phrase il n'avait laissé ni rif ni raf.” "Hélas! j'ai goute miseraigne, J'ai rifle et rafle, et roigne et taigne." Les Miracles de Ste. Geneviève, p. 283. Examples may be easily multiplied, but the article referred to above enters largely into the subject. E. COBHAM BREWER. Lavant, Chichester. ENGLISH SURNAMES: BOOKS ON SURNAMES (5th S. i. 262, 330, 352, 391, 470; ii. 157; iv. 189.) -HIBERNICUS writes a long letter, but, so far as I am concerned, my reply must be brief. (1.) I have already proved, in reply to VERITAS, that Fuller and Bowler in the old guilds represented two distinct occupations; the fuller fulled cloth, the bowler made wooden dishes. The forms of registration are:-"John le Bolur" (Hundred Rolls), or "Adam le Bolour" (Writs of Parl.); and, to keep to the same lists, "Grigge le Fulur" (H. R.), or "Matthew le Fullere" (W. of P.). (2.) HIBERNICUS says "Bowler" has been corrupted into Bowdler. I am quite prepared to show that, on the strength of a Kerry entry, believe it. He then writes a long paragraph to "John Fuller, alias Bowler," we are not to suppose that originally these two names represented separate occupations. He adds with naïve simplicity that there were two well-established families in Kerry, one named Fuller, the other Bowler. This statement explains the alias, although HIBERNICUS An intermarriage, or does not seem to see it. an informal or irregular marriage, or one of a hundred accidents or freaks, would cause the |