starvi dei battezzatori-i sacerdoti che battezzavano-lo uno degli quali fori, non è ancora molti anni, che io ruppi per salvare un fanciullo che vi annegava dentro, essendovi caduto col capo in giù.”

The noble and learned commentator then adds the following interesting passage from 'Benvenuti da Imola':

66 Ad cujus declarationem debes scire quod Florentiæ in Ecclesia patronali Johannis Baptista circa fontem baptismalem sunt aliqui puteoli marmorei rotundi in circuitu, capaces unius hominis tantum, in quibus solent stare sacerdotes cum cruribus ad baptizandum pueros, ut possint liberius et habilius exercere officium suum tempore pressuræ, quando oportet simul et semel plures baptizari, quoniam tota Florentia tam populosa non habet nisi unum baptismum tantum, sicut Bononia, &c. Fatti per loco di battezzatori. Id est sacerdotum baptizantium ibi. Et auctor incidenter commemorat unum casum satis peregrinum, qui emerserat pauco tempore ante in dicto loco. Qui casus fuit talis. Cum in Ecclesia Sancti Johannis Florentiæ circa Baptismum colluderent quidam pueri, ut est de more, unus eorum furiosior aliis intravit unum istorum foraminum, et ita et taliter implicavit, et involvit membra sua, quod nulla arte, nullo ingenio poterat inde retrahi. Clamantibus ergo pueris, qui illum juvare non poterent, factus est in parva hora magnus concursus populi. Et breviter nullo sciente aut potente succurrere puero periclitanti, supervenit Dantes, qui tunc erat de Prioribus regentibus. Qui subito viso puero clamare cæpit: Ah quid facitis, gens ignara! portetur una securis. Dantes propriis manibus percussit lapidem, qui de marmore erat, et faciliter fregit. Ex quo puer quasi reviviscens a mortuis liber evasit. Ad literam ergo dicit Auctor: l'un degli quali, scilicet foraminum, rupp'io per un che v'annegava dentro, sicut patet ex dictis."

No mention here of wooden planks either. The pozzetti or puteoli were evidently narrow apertures in which the baptizing priests stood knee-deep, and iu one of which the boy's head was jammed. The only way to extricate him was to break the circling marble or stone, which Dante succeeded in doing. This view is borne out by Lombardi, who explains the reference thus:

"Per meglio esprimersi (chiosa il Landino) aggiunge che erano a similitudine di quelli quattro pozzetti, i quali nel tempio del Battista Giovanni sono intorno alla fonte posta nel mezzo del tempio, fatti perchè vi stiano i preti che battezzano, acciocchè stiano più presso all'acqua. Al tempo del Landino, come da questo di lui modo di parlare apparisce, esisteva cotal battistero; nè fu demolito se non (testimonio il Rica) del 1576 cessato essendo l'antico costume di non battezzare (fuori del caso di necessità) bambini, che nel sabbato santo, e nella Vigilia di Pentecoste; costume, che apportando necessariamente folla di gente aveva indotto il bisogno di provedere i preti battezzanti di simili stalli, Rupp'io, &c. Intervenne (prosiegue il Landino) che, essendo più fanciulli nel tempio di S. Giovanni, e scherzando, siccome è di lor costume, uno cadde in un de' pozzi, doppio (cioè colle gambe rivolte alla vita; positura atta a formare incaglio) e non se ne potendo per altra via cavare vi s'abbatte Dante, e di sua mano ruppe il pozzo, e scampò il fanciullo. Vannegava, per vi si soffogava, perdeva il respiro, a cagione del predetto indoppiamento del di lui corpo. Quando non voglia supporsi, che per rottura fosse l'acqua della fonte penetrata nella cavità stessa in cui era il fanciullo caduto."

But to retrace my steps. 'Inferno,' iv. 57:

Moisè legista e ubbidiente.

The meaning is clear, but Ford misses it in his rendering:

Of Moses lawgiver, and of Abraham, who,
Patriarch, obey'd.

The adjective refers in the text not to Abraham, but to Moses. Lord Vernon paraphrases the line thus:

"Quella (l'ombra) di Moisè legista, legislatore-e ubbidiente sempre alla voce di Dio."

"Ubbidente invece d'ubbidiente leggono l'ediz diverse dalla Vidob. Ubbidiente però non solo si adotta meglio all' uso dello scrivere; ma sciogliendosi nella seconda i, e pronunziandosi di cinque sillabe arreca al verso dolcezza," remarks Lombardi.

Passing on to canto v. 1. 28, I note a charming Dantesque metaphor:

Io venni in luogo d'ogni luce muto. Muto per privo, catacresi," observes Lombardi briefly, but the annotator (N. E., or Nuovo Editore) of my copy adds:

"E' una bella nota per gli studiosi questa del Magalotti: Notisi come stando sempre su la medesima bizzarra traslazione d'attribuire il proprio della voce al proprio della vista, va continuamente crescendo. Nella selva dove l'oscurità e l'ombra erano accidentali per l' impedimento de' rami e delle foglie disse realmente tacerai la luce......qui finalmente dove s'è inoltrato nel che le tenebre di questo cerchio non sono accidentali, né profondo della valle, muto lo chiama e vuol denotare, a tempo, nè assottigliate da qualche spruzzolo di languidissima luce, ma spesse, folte, ostinate ed eterne.'" V. 123:

Nessun maggior dolore,

Che ricordasi, del tempo felice

Nella miseria; e ciò sa il tuo dottore.

The trite and beautiful truism of the first half of this sentence calls for no remark, but the italicized words have exercised students more or less

since their illustrious author penned them. To whom does the unfortunate Francesca allude? There are two candidates for the honour-Virgil and Boetius. Which of the two was the poet's doctor or teacher in this matter of happy memories emphasizing sorrow? Possibly Virgil, but more likely Boetius.

"Alcuni opiniano che in questo dottore si acceni Virgilio, già felice nel mondo, ed ora infelice nel Limbo; però trovandosi questa sentenza espressa quasi colle medesime parole da Boezio, è molto più probabile che il Poeta abbia inteso piuttosto di questo. In omni adversitate fortuna, dice egli, infelicissimum genus infortunii est, fuisse felicem. E Dante stesso dice nel Convito che la prima consolazione, ch' egli ebbe nelle sue avversità, si fu quella portagli dallo studio del libro De Consolatione Philosophia di Boezio, ch' appella poi suo dottore," says Lord Vernon. Lombardi's opinion is worth quoting, as evidencing discrepancy of view:

"Il Daniello e il Venturi per non trovarsi tra gli scritti di Virgilio sentenza che confermi il detto di Francesca, sɔnosi rivolti a Boezio, scrivendo questi In omni,

In the Annual Register' for 1848 is the obituary notice of Lieut.-General Sir Charles William Maxwell, C.B. (1815), Kt. and K.C.H. He was a lieutenant-general of 1841, and colonel of the 3rd West India Regiment. He had been Governor of Senegal and Sierra Leone in 1811, and subsequently Governor of Dominica and other West India islands. He died at Broadstairs, September 23, 1848, aged seventy-three. In Dod's 'Peerage and Knightage' for 1848 he is said to have married first a daughter of Col. William Douglas, secondly a daughter of James Bird, Esq. Both there and in the Annual Register' he is described as

wife.

SIGMA. BELLS CAST BY ABRAHAM RUDHALL.-The following advertisement appears on the back page of the Post-Man, No. 1812, Nov. 1-3, 1709:—

"Abraham Rudhall of the City of Gloucester Bell

Founder, being desired by several Gentlemen to publish an Account of the Bells and Peals, Cast by him from the year 1684, to this time, is as follows, (viz.) entire Peales one Ring of 10 Bells at Warwick, 15 Rings of 8 Bells, 47 Rings of 6 Bells, 36 Rings of 5 Bells, besides Rings of 4 Bells, and Bells Cast into Peals, to the No. of 813; the Bells abovementioned have been Cast for the use of 7 Cities, 48 Market Towns, 239 Parishes in 20 several Counties. Note, he hath Cast since Christmas last 11 entire Peals as follows, (viz.) in Herefordshire at Hamlacey, a Ring of 8 Bells, the Gift of the Rt. Hon. James Lord Viscount Scudamore, and at Bishops-Froom a a Ring of 6 Bells, in Gloucestershire at Buckland, a Ring of 6 Bells, Maycey Hampton a Ring of 6 Bells, Cramuck a Ring of 5 Bells, English-Bickner a Ring of 5 Bells, Somersetshire at Ash week, a Ring of 5 Bells, Wiltshire at Castle Eaton, a Ring of 5 Bells, Berkshire at Coulshil, a Ring of 5 Bells, Hinton Waldridge, a Ring of 5 Belle time to the No. of 68, to the Satisfaction of them that not yet gone home, and other Bells into Peals since that Understand Musick and good Bells."

bead."

His residence is given as 24, Chester Street, Grosvenor Place, London.

Nothing is known of any Charles Maxwell of Terraughty, and no one of that name ever owned Terraughty or resided there. It occurs to me that Sir Charles Maxwell's father may have been the Charles Maxwell in London, son of Charles the upholsterer, and in that case Sir Charles Maxwell's eldest son would, on the death in 1863 of William Maxwell of Carruchan, have succeeded to the representation of Caerlaverock and Nithsdale.

Sir Charles visited Dumfriesshire about 1840. A lady whose marriage took place in 1844 states that she remembers seeing him there before that year, accompanied by his wife. She also remembers he had a son who used to spend his holidays with

Dr. Maxwell, of Dumfries. I understand that no information about Sir Charles is given in Sir William Fraser's privately printed 'History of the Maxwells of Nithsdale,' and any details as to his parentage, brothers, and issue will be interesting James Douglas, who is mentioned above as Sir Charles Maxwell's father-in-law, was a physician in Carlisle, and married Mary, daughter of Sir Patrick Maxwell, the first baronet of Springkell, and had five daughters, of whom the eldest, Helen, is said to have married Maxwell, Esq., of London (see Wood's 'Douglas's Peerage,' ii. 387). It may be presumed that she was wife of Charles Maxwell, the upholsterer's son.

The following occurs in vol. liii. of the Annual Register' (p. 151): April, 1811. C. Maxwell, Esq., to be Governor of Sierra Leone and its dependencies; and in vol. ci. (p. 462) we find: Died in George Street, Bathwick Hill, Bath, 17 Nov., 1860, Catherine Wade, widow of Lieut. General Sir Charles William Maxwell, K.C.H., C.B., formerly colonel of the 3rd West India Regiment. I do not know if this refers to the death of his second wife, Miss Bird, mentioned

H. H. S.

A BET HAND.-In the two-volume edition of Lockhart's Life of Scott,' 1848 (vol. ii. p. 351), it is stated, in reply to the question why he, Sir Walter, had ever relinquished poetry, he replied, beat short; and again, on the same page, "Because Byron bet me," pronouncing the word bet me out of the field." the same word a day or two ago from an old pupil, I was surprised to hear now a colliery owner in the North, who called upon

"He

me. He said, "The colliers are not at work tointo the meaning of the word, I received the folday, because they have a bet hand." On inquiring lowing curious information. The colliers had been soft, so that on resuming work they became, from so long on strike that their hands had become the rough handling of the tools, bet, that is, beaten, bruised, or blistered, and the men required an

occasional day's rest in order to heal their wounds. C. TOMLINSON. Highgate.

"BUFFETIER" AS AN ENGLISH WORD. (See 7th S. v. 106, 192, 216.)-In the first of the three notes quoted I have dealt with buffetier as a French word still in use; I now propose to deal with it an English word, to be found in more or less well known English books. In the 'N. E. D.,' s.v "Beef-eater," there is the deliberate statement made that "no such form of the word [beef-eater] as buffetier exists." Now in 7th S. v. 192 MR. FELS tells us that "an instance of the English use of buffetier for beef-eater occurs in Smith's Nollekens and his Times,' vol. i. chap. iii. p. 78 (second edition)." And a few days ago I discovered two

Now it is very possible that these authors believed the word beef-eater to be connected with buffet, and so coined a new form, buffetier, which seemed to them more serious and more respectful, though up to that time it had been no more than a current hypothesis; but it is by no means impossible that they may have found the form in some old book or books. At all events, coined or not coined, a word used by so eminent a writer as Mr. Besant is surely entitled to a place in the 'N. E. D.'; and I suppose, therefore, that it was overlooked by Dr. Murray's host of readers. Sydenham Hill.

F. CHANCE.

DOMESDAY BOOK AS LEGAL EVIDENCE.-It may be worth while to note in N. & Q.' that on June 16 this ancient and priceless record was removed, under careful custody, from the Record Office to the House of Lords as important evidence in the De Wahull peerage case. the Times, June 17, is :

The reference in

"Mr. Shiress Will formally put in evidence the original documents mentioned by Sir Horace Davey. The first documentary evidence of the title was the entry in the first volume of the Domesday Survey, dated 1086, which was formally put in evidence, by consent of their Lordships, at the conclusion of the hearing on Tuesday.'

ESTE.

A "SUPPRESSED" CHRONICLE OF TRANSYLVANIA.-I see that the myth of Bethlen's chronicle having been suppressed is repeated once more in Mr. Quaritch's Catalogue (No. 116) issued October 15, 1891. His authority is Brunet, who tells us that the first edition was printed:

"à Koesross [sic] ou Kilros [sic], château de l'auteur en 1687; on prétend que les exemplaires ont été détruits avec tant de rigueur qu'il ne s'en est pas conservé plus que deux, lesquels même n'ont ni titre ni pièces liminaires."

Ternaux has another bit of romance about the book. According to him:

"Quand l'imprimeur fut arrivé à la p. 801, le château fut pris par les Turcs et le comte [Bethlen] alla mourir en esclavage......Aussi Bauer dit-il de cet ouvrage Liber rarissimis rarior, cujus duo saltem exemplaria integra in orbe litterato extant."

So Bauer seems to be the disseminator of the

fable of only two copies having been preserved. According to Ternaux one of these was in the library of Count Schaafgotsch, at Hermsdorf, the other in the public library at Breslau. The true version of the history of the book is given by the late Charles Szabó, the Hungarian bibliographer, in his 'Régi Magyar Könyvtár' (Budapest, 1885), vol. ii. p. 553. He tells us that he has himself seen at least twenty copies of the book, and gives the whereabouts of a dozen. The name of the castle where the book was printed is Keresd (Keresdinum in Latin, Kreisch in German). The author of the 'Chronicle' was Count Wolfgangus de Bethlen, Chancellor of Transylvania, who died in 1679, five years before the printing of the 'Chronicle' was begun. This was undertaken by Alexius Bethlen, the author's brother, and was proceeding very slowly until the month of August, 1690, when Emerich Tököli invaded Transylvania. At the approach of his Turkish-Tartar auxiliaries the printing was stopped at p. 832. The bulk of the copies and the printing press were removed to Segesvár (Schässburg), the rest of them, with sundry deeds and MSS., were enclosed in a trunk, and walled in in the cellar of the castle, where the greatest portion of them was destroyed by damp. Part of the stock taken to Segesvár was subsequently brought back to Keresd by the Bethlens, Most of the copies left at Segesvár were destroyed and distributed as presents among their friends. mentions the fact that in the last century a student or carried off during the Rákóczy troubles. Benkö at Nagy-Enyed bought three copies from a Segesvár citizen for as many gold ducats.

The printing of the book was never finished, and it had no title-page until Gottfrid Schwarz printed one at the end of last century, and also a preface giving the history of the vicissitudes of the book and its MS. L. L. K.

'MORE HINTS ON ETIQUETTE.'-The following note may be of interest to Dickens collectors, if the fact be not already known. It certainly is new to me. Mr. W. T. Spencer, London (Catalogue 27, June, p. 12) advertises a copy of More Hints on Etiquette, for the use of Society at Large,' 1838, first ed., 12mo., pictorial cloth, London, Tilt. He adds the following statement :

"Until now I think it was quite unknown that Charles Dickens and George Cruikshank were the joint authors of the above. I am indebted to W. Wright, Esq., of Paris (in whose possession the manuscript is), for this knowledge, and with his permission I make it public." J. CUTHBERT WELCH, F.C.S.

The Brewery, Reading.