Fall of Rain in England.—"Roydon" (No. 11. p. 73.) will find the average quantity of rain fallen at Greenwich, for twenty-five years, 1815 to 1839, in a very useful and clever pamphlet, price 1s., by J. H. Belville, of the Royal Observatory, published by Taylor, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, called, Manual of the Mercurial and Aneroid Barometers. Henry Wilkinson.
Judas Bell—(No. 13. p. 195.). In the "Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie," a singular Scotch Poem, composed in the former half of the 16th century, and printed in Ramsay's Evergreen, the following passage occurs (Everg. vol. ii. p. 74.):—
"A Benefice quha wald give sic a Beist,
But gif it were to jingle Judus bells?
Tak thee a Fiddle or a Flute to jest,
Undoclit thou art, ordaind for naithing ells."
The Judas bells may probably have been used in the Easter-eve ceremonies, in connexion with which we find Judas candles mentioned. See Brand's Popular Antiq. by Sir H. Ellis, vol. i. p. 29. C. W. G.
Boduc or Boduoc on British Coins. The real
name of the heroic queen of the Iceni is very
uncertain. Walther (Tacitus, xiv. Ann. c. 31.),
adopts Boudicea. It is probable enough that the
syllables Boduo may have formed a part of it, as
pronounced by the Britons. We are reminded of
Boduognatus, leader of the Nervii, mentioned by
Caesar. But to come nearer home, the name
Boduogenus is found upon a bronze vessel dis-
covered in the Isle of Ely, described by Mr.
Goddard Johnson, Archaologia, xxviii. p. 436.
C. W. G.
Lord Bacons Metrical Version of the Psalms.
Lord Bacon's translation of seven psalms, the
1st, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 127th, and 149th,
with a Dedication to George Herbert, is found at
the end of the 2nd vol. of his works. (Lond. 1826.)
They were printed at London, 1625, in quarto
C. W. G.
[To this we may add, on the information of X. X.,
that some account of these Psalms, with specimens,
may be seen in Holland's Psalmists of Britain, 1824.]
A " Gib" Cat. What is the etymology of the
trim " Gibbe," as applied to the male cat? I
may observe that the g is pronounced hard in this
locality, and nutjibbe, as most dictionaries have it.
Burnley, Lancashire. T. T. W.
[NAKES has shown, very satisfactorily, that Gib, the
contr.iction of Gilbert, was the name formerly applied to
a cat, as Tom is now. Hest.ites that Tibrrt (the name
given to the Cat in the old Reynard the Fox) was the
old 1'YeiK'li tor (iillirrt; and at all events, be that as it
may, C'haucer, in Ins h'tnnnnce of the Rune, verse 6204.,
translates * Thibert le Cas " by " Gibbe our Cat."J
Lay of the Phamix. "SELEUCTJS" is informed that
the Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Phoenix is contained
in the Codex Exoniensis, edited by Mr. B. Thorpe.
The Latin poem, in hexameters and pentameters,
attributed to Lactantius, is given at the foot of
the page. It will be found at the end of the works
of Lactantius, in the small edition by Fritzsche
(Lipsiae, 1842). Fritzsche mentions two separate
editions of the poem ; 1 . by Martini, Lunaeburgi,
1825 ; 2. by Leyser, Quedlinburgi, 1839
C. W. G.
Lay of the Phoenix. "SELEUCUS" (No. 13.
p. 203.) asks, " Is there any published edition of
the hexameter poem by Lactantius, which is said
to have suggested the idea of the Anglo-Saxon
Lay of the Phoenix f n This poem is not in hexa-
meter, but in elegiac verse ; and though, on ac-
count of its brevity, we could not expect that it
would have been separately published, it is to be
found very commonly at the end of the works of
Lactantius ; for example, in three editions before
me, Basil. 1524, Lugd. 1548, Basil. 1563. That
this poem, however, belongs to the Christian
Cicero, at any period of his life, is more than
doubtful, even by the admission of Romanists,
who readily avail themselves of other compo-
sitions of similar authority. It has been some-
times ascribed to Venantius Fortunatus, and is by
Sirmondus attributed to Theodulphus, Bishop of
Orleans. (Opp. ii. 840. cf. iv. 519. Venet, 1728.)
R. G.
Ordination Pledges. Your correspondent,
"CLERICUS" (No. 10. p. 156.), will find by far the
most elaborate and judicious examination of the
import, design, and obligation of the various oaths
and subscriptions required of the clergy, in the
successive numbers of The Christian Observer for
1849. E. V.
Feast of St. Michael and All- Angels. The
difficulty started by " K. M. P." (No. 13 p. 203.),
with regard to the double second lessons for the
Feast of St. Michael and All-Angels, is easily re-
solved by comparing the Table of Proper Lessons
before and after the last review of the Prayer
Booh in 1662 ; from which it will be seen, that
the proper second lessons were then appointed for
the first time, while the old second lessons for
Sept. 29. were retained, either from inadvertence,
or to avoid the necessity of disarranging all the
subsequent part of the calendar. The present
first lessons, Gen. xxxii., and Dan. x. v. 5., at the
same timi- took the place of the inappropriate
chapters, Eccles. xxxix. and xliv., which had been
appointed for this day in Queen Elizabeth's Prayer
Book, 1559. E. V.
Beaver Hat. Mr. T. Hudson Turner (No. 7.
p. 100.) asks, " What is the earliest known in-
stance of the use of a beaver hat in England ?"
