270
NOTES AND QUERIES, m s. vm. OCT. 4, 191*.
GUY DE OPHENI is said to have been lord
of the manor of Westbromwich, 1155,
" married Christiana. . . .had a son William (1180)
(Fitz-wido), who married Geva (Basset) and had
issue a son Wm., who died s.p. before 1255, and
3 dans. : Margerie md. Rd. de Marnham, Sara md.
Walter Devereux, and Matildh [sic] md. circ.
1200." Willett's ' Hist, of West Bromwich '
1882.
I should be glad of any information about him. T. JESSON.
9.\, Parkside, Cambridge.
THE AGE OF COUNTRY BRIDGES. I was told the other day by an intelligent stone- mason that an Act of Parliament was passed about 120 years ago in which the minimum width of all new bridges on public roads was prescribed. Can any reader inform me further about such a law, and give the pre- scribed measurements if there are such ? T. LLECHID JONES.
Yspytty Vicarage, Bettws-y-Coed.
RODINTG OR ROOTHING. A month's so- journ in the neighbourhood of Dunmow, Essex, made me well acquainted with eight parishes and one district bearing this place- name as suffix : Abbess, Aythorpe, Beau- champ, Berners, High, Leaden, Margaret, White, and Morrell. What are the meaning and derivation of Roding or Roothing ? I observed that the former is the popular, i.e., the usual spelling, the latter being that of legal or official documents.
J. B. McGovERN.
BOTANICAL PRESS AND ENTOMOLOGICAL PINS. When, and by whom, were these appliances invented for drying specimens to preserve them ? KUMAGUSU MINAKATA.
Tanabe, Kii, Japan.
REVOLUTION MEMORIALS IN THE PEAK DISTRICT. Data concerning these, including any statue of William III., would be wel- comed. WILLIAM MACARTHUR.
" VESTIS ADRIATICA." Jacobus de Vora- gine in his ' Legenda Aurea ' has the follow- ing passage in reference to St. Alexius :
" Sponsa vero ejus induta veste adriatica cucurrit plorans."
French and other Continental writers translate " vestis adriatica " as " vesture de deuil," " raiments of sorrow, mourning," or " black dress " ; but I have not yet been able to discover the word in any Latin dictionary. As we know, one or two classic writers have tried their hand at explaining the name of the Adriatic Sea, but the explanation seems to be far-fetched.
L. L. K.
CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD, IN TIME
OF ELIZABETH.
(US. vii. 251 i vm. 151.)
IN John Bereb lock's drawing of 1566 (Thomas Neele being responsible only for the accom- panying descriptive Latin verses), cited at the latter reference, the surface of Tom Quad appears as one uniform level i.e., of one plane, and not of two as it is to-day -con- sisting, apparently, of a vast quadrangular grass -plat surrounded by a gravel path giving access to the various buildings. The skele- ton cloister, which is a well-known feature of the great quadrangle to-day, and dimly recalls to the imagination the monstrous relics of the dragons of the prime, is clearly indicated by Bereb lock.
In Agas's Map" of Oxford, drawn 1578, engraved 1588, the three then existing sides of Tom Quad are shown. The fourth, or north side, was not completed until 1668, under Dean Fell ; and in the vacant space Agas gives, more or less, what remained of the ground-plan of Wolsey's great Chapel, the foundations of which have been partially disinterred in recent times. On the south side, under the Hall and adjacent buildings, the cloister appears to be something more than a mere skeleton as if, indeed, on that side it had almost been completed. The sur- face of the quadrangle appears again as of one uniform level, but a mere blank, save for a pump which decorates the centre. In Loggan's Map of Oxford (1675), on the other hand, the ground -plan of the quad- rangle differs little, save for the better in some respects, from its arrangement to- day after the restoration under Dean Liddell. A broad gravelled terrace had been raised, with stately nights of steps in the middle of each of the three sides represented, and in the centre of the quadrangle was con- structed the circular basin of water, with the rock, globe, and fountain, portrayed by Loggaii. This admirable centre-piece was erected at the cost and charges of Dr. Richard Gardiner, Senior Prebendary, and in 1670 the Dean and Chapter bound themselves and their successors to maintain the same in repair for ever. But twenty -five years later a statue of Mercury the body of lead, the head arid neck of bronze sup- planted the globe. The gift of Canon Anthony Radcliffe, it has bequeathed its name to the basin itself ; but the actual
