of their richer neighours, pretty devices, made and adorned in the following way. A strip of deal stands perpendicularly, being, as it were, the stem of a tree. From this, at intervals, other pieces branch off horizontally; the extremities of these branches are adorned with apples,-some gilded, some covered with silver tissue, some with flour, and stuck over with black and white oats, arranged in different figures. The whole is surmounted by a branch of the box tree, to the leaves of which are attached hazel nuts, by inserting the leaf into the smaller end of the nut, which is slightly opened, and which immediately collapses. The whole has the appearance of a gay and pretty shrub, and makes a rattling noise when moved by the clashing of the nuts.

There seems to be allusions to this custom in the notes to New Year's day, pp. 8, 9; a gilded apple and black oats being very good substitutes for oranges and cloves. "An orange stuck with cloves appears to have been a New Year's gift. So Ben Jonson, in his Christmas Masque: 'He has an orange and rosemary, but not a clove to stick in it."" And among Merry Observations upon every Month and every remarkable Day throughout the whole Year, under January, it is said, "On the first day of this month will be given many gifts. ** Children, to their inexpressible joy, will be drest in their best bibs and aprons, and may be seen handed along streets, some bearing Kentish pippins, others oranges stuck with cloves, in order to crave a blessing of their godfathers and godmothers."

Should the above appear worthy of your Magazine, I may, in the following month, trouble you with some notices of old customs, and matters of ancient faith, which still linger amongst the country people of this vicinity.

Yours, &c. WM. DYKE.

defensive side of the case were Protestant. The point affected by the question, namely, the tenet of Papal infallibility, is certainly not one of secondary importance in controversy.

Referring to the language of J. R.'s letter, I am not aware of having charged the Editors of the Sixtine Vulgate with design, or of having impeached their readiness to correct mistakes. What I have remarked upon is, the committal of mistakes, and the presumptuous (or ridiculous) excommunication of such persons as should make any changes. Neither would I lay an undue stress on "blunders and omissions," that may be accounted for typographically; but I may fairly press the necessity of accounting for the redundant clauses in the Sixtine Bible, which are expunged in the Clementine. J. R. appears to regard them, in common with the rest, as merely typographical, whereas it has been shewn (I conceive) that such cannot be the case; and I repeat, that that the claim of Papal infallibility is seriously compromised by the circum

stance.

Not having immediate access to the works of either Bianchini or Ward, I will not presume the insufficiency of arguments I have no opportunity of seeing; but, that the question at issue may be clearly understood, I would reduce it to these three queries: 1. Are the errors typographical or editorial? 2. If typographical, how are the redundant passages accounted for? 3. If the text be faulty, what becomes of the excommunication directed against alterations, and, consequently, of the Papal infallibility?

All the errors in Protestant versions cannot affect the bearing of this question, since no such tenet as infallibility is compromised by them. That foreign translations, formed on the basis of the authorised English, should

* The language of Calmet shews that the errors are editorial: "Pope Sixtus V. made it his care to procure a perfect edition of this version, which might serve as a model to all future editions for the use of the Catholic Church." (Art. Vulgate.) He says nothing about the excommunication, and that omission may easily be accounted for.

reflect its defects, is incontestable ;* but they must have been formed on some basis; and the same objection attaches to such translations as are made from the Vulgate. For so far is even the Clementine edition from being faultless, that Cardinal Bellarmine (who with other divines attended the correction of it) acknowledges, in his letter to Lucas of Bruges, that it contains various faults, which the correctors did not remove : Scias velim Biblia vulgata non esse à nobis accuratissime castigata; multa enim de industria justis de causis pertransimus.

From J. R.'s remarks on the Vulgate, in reference to the disputed verse,

can have no wish to detract, and should be glad if the evidence thus afforded were still weightier. Valpy has a good note on the subject, in his useful edition of the Greek Testament; but I fear that more requires to be done before this verse can recover the position it formerly occupied as a doctrinal authority.

Having made these observations, I would further remark (and it is a curious historical fact), that Sixtus V. was unfortunate in another Bible, which is indeed to be regretted, as he seems to have been really anxious to diffuse the Divine Word. The following account is taken from the secretary and historian of the Inquisition, Llorente, who was also an ecclesiastic -although in citing it I do not positively assent to the suspicion concerning the Pope's death.

"The Cardinal Quiroga, and the Council of the Inquisition, treated the Sovereign Pontiff, Sixtus Quintus, with little respect. This Pope published a translation of the Bible in Italian, and prefaced it by a bull, in which he re commended every one to read it, say

* Let me here mention an elucidation of a difficulty which I accidentally met with, and for which lexicographers might

have been consulted in vain. The words

in 1 Cor. iv. 4, "For I know nothing by myself," are obscure, as apparently giving an ablative sense, where a dative is the true one, (Nil conscire sibi, Hor.) In some parts of Somersetshire, it is common among the peasantry to say, "I know nothing by him,"-meaning nothing to his prejudice.

ing that the faithful would derive the greatest advantages from it. This conduct of the Pope was contrary to all the regulations from the time of Leo X. All doctrinal works had been forbidden to be in the vulgar tongue for fifty years, by the expurgatory index of the Council, and by the Inquisitions of Rome and Madrid. The Cardinals, Quiroga at Madrid, and Toledo at Rome, and others, represented to Philip II. that great evils would arise from it if he did not employ his influence to induce the Pope to relinquish his design. Philip commissioned the Count d'Olivarez to expostulate with the Pontiff; the Count obeyed, but at the hazard of his life, for Sixtus Quintus was on the point of depriving him of it, without respect for the rights of nations, or for the privileges of Olivarez as an ambassador.

"This formidable Pope died in 1592, and Philip was suspected of having hastened his days by slow poison. After this event, the Inquisition of Spain having received witnesses to prove that the infallible oracle of the law was a favourer of heretics, condemned the Sixtine Bible, as they had already condemned those of Cassiodorus de Reyna, and many others." (Hist. of the Inquisition, c. xxvii. p. 353-4.†)

It is right to mention, that the italic of the word infallible is either the author's or the translator's. But the sense of the word may be equally gathered from the mode in which it is used. The conclusion, then, at which I had arrived, as to Papal infallibility, is similar to that of a Spanish priest, and in both cases it is drawn from the fate of the Bibles published by the same Pope.

has proved himself to be one of these. But neither he nor Varro, whom he cites as his authority, seem to have properly ascertained the especial characteristics of each of the two words, between which there is a more decided variance than that which they allege. In the passage, Virg. Ecl. v. 65,"En quatuor aras ;Ecce duas tibi, Daphni, duoque altaria Phoebo!"

Servius makes aras signify altars erected and dedicated to the gods above and below, the Superi and Inferi, and altaria to belong only to the former. This distinction is mentioned by Facciolati, who states, however, that these differences are not observed by classical writers. Another distinction is mentioned by him, (unfounded and untenable, as I think, and, as he says, "perraro servatum,") which is ut ara dicatur proprie suggestus inferior, et veluti pes et fulcimentum quo mensa quæ est altare sustinetur."

I imagine that nothing but the passage in Virgil quoted above furnished Servius with the grounds for his assertion-aras being allotted to Daphnis and Apollo, but altaria to Apollo only. In another place in Virgil, ara and altaria are found in juxtaposition, and seem to preclude any such distinction, but rather to be used synonymously, viz. Æn. ii. 513:

"Ingens ara fuit juxtaque veterrima [Penates:

laurus Incumbens aræ atque umbra complexa Hic Hecuba et natæ nequicquam altaria circum," &c.

A more remarkable exemplification

of the similar use of the two words may be seen in Hannibal's account of his oath of perpetual enmity to the Romans, as severally repeated by Livy

and Cornelius Nepos.

"Parvum admodum me quum sacrifi. caret altaribus admotum jurejurando adegit nunquam amicum fore populi Romani." Liv. Hist. lib. xxxv. c. 19.

"Simul me ad aram adduxit apud quam sacrificare instituerat, eamque cæteris remotis tenentem jurare jussit nunquam me in amicitia cum Romanis fore." Corn. Nep. in vit. Hannib. c. 2.

My belief is, that every word had, originally at least, an especial meaning affixed to it, though the lapse of after ages has caused it to coalesce with that of another.

In the passages which we have cited from the Eneid, from Livy, and from Cornelius Nepos, it will be observed that altaria is always used in the plural number, though referring to the same subject as does ara in the singular. From this it would appear that ara comprehended something more than altare, or that it stood in the same relation to it as a whole does to its part.

Now, the etymology of the word altare entirely corroborates this supposition. Festus and Servius agree in deriving it from altus and ara, though the inference deduced by the latter from thence cannot claim our approval. Alt-ara and altare would have the same identity as cepa and cepe. Ac. cording to this derivation, altaria would denote certain parts of the altar which are higher, or project further than the remaining part-that is, it would correspond to the horns of the altar of the Old Testament.

In support of this interpretation, we will adduce and compare two passages, the one from Holy Writ and the other from Justin. In 1 Kings, i. 50, we read, "And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns * of the altar."

Justin, speaking of Ptolemy Ceraunus, says" sumptis in manus altaribus, inauditis ultimisque exsecrationibus adjuravit se sincera fide matrimonium sororis petere." Just. Hist. xxiv. c. 2.

Thus the horns of the altar and the altaria were caught hold of (sumpta in manus) on similar occasions, and for similar purposes. Moreover, it is im possible to conceive of altars, as we understand the word, being taken hold of in the hands; but if altare, from

signifying a part, came afterwards to

imply the whole, it is by no means an isolated instance of such a transmutation. At the same time this fact demands our observation, that, as Facciolati remarks, this word is often used in the plural number when the sense would require the singular; and indeed, out of seven examples of the use of this word given by him, in only one of these does it occur in the singular number. Yours, &c.

E. H. HUNTer.

I

We have in Tooley-street, opposite St. Mary's Church, the sign of the Whip and Egg, originally, I believe, the Whip and Nag. There is also in the same street the sign of the Cock and House, which, I believe, is corrupted from the Cocking House. remember as a schoolboy the sign of "The Five Alls" in St. Michael at Plea, represented by a floor of black and white pavement in perspective: The King, at the head, said, "I govern All;" the Lawyer, on one side, "I plead for All;" the Parson, on the other, "I pray for All;" the Soldier, at one foot," I fight for All;" and, lastly, the Labourer, "I work for All."

There used to be in St. Andrew's, in Pottergate-street, the sign of The First and Last, represented by a cradle and a coffin. There was a public

house in Lower Westwick-street called The Nowhere; and I have heard my grandfather speak of a public-house at the corner of Tombland called the Popinjay, and I have been told that the last landlord was named Copley, and the great-grandfather of the present Lord Lyndhurst.

in ale and sugar. But the most splendid sign-post I ever heard of was the original sign-post at Scole Inn, which has been engraved; but the only print I ever saw is preserved at the Inn, and is well worth your looking at when you next come this road, if you have never seen it.*

The Rose and Crown, in moulded brick,† is still in existence at the public-house at Frettenham, or at least it was very lately.

We have in the Swan Lane the sign of the Two-neck'd Swan, originally the Swan with two nicks, the way in which the swanner still marks his birds

on

our rivers, by cutting nicks or notches on their bills.

There was formerly at the back of that inn the sign of the Hog in Armour, very commonly called here the Pig in Misery.

Our Hole in the Wall" will be found noticed in a book entitled "The Clubs of London," it having been formerly frequented by the wits and bons vivants of this city.

P.S.-I have omitted to mention an old and curious sign in Peescock-street, The Man laden with Mischief. He is represented with a woman chained to his back, the chain secured with a large padlock; the woman holds in her hands a bottle and a glass; upon her shoulder sits a monkey, and on the monkey's head a magpie.

So far from my friend at Norwich: to which I may add, that there is a curious sign at Widford, near Chelmsford, which I have known above fifty years-it is called the Silent Woman.

*In Mr. Dawson Turner's Index to the Illustrations of his copy of Blomefield's History of Norfolk, (privately printed,) 8vo. 1841, we find two engravings mentioned, one of the Inn at Scole, and the other of its Sign, with description and coats of arms, both by Fessey, 1740. The plate of the Sign is copied in a small quarto size, by C. Hall, probably for one of the Magazines. EDIT.

†This, from the shape of the crown, appears to be of the time of Henry VII. or VIII. This ancient royal badge is still common as an inn-sign in most localities.-J. A. R.