Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 8.djvu/248

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240


NOTES -AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. SEPT. 21, 1901.


I do not repeat here, because it has already appeared in 'N. & Q.,' 4 th S. vi. 124, prepa- ratory, let us hope, to its being immortalized also in the ' H.E.D.' But the jest has been remembered better than the man. The col- lege registers show that he became a scholar at Winchester in 1518, and a probationary fellow at New College in 1522 ; yet, oddly enough, in Nichols's foot-notes to ' Narratives of the Reformation ' he, and he almost alone of all the persons mentioned by Louthe, was not identified. Again, in Mr. Kirby's ' Win- chester Scholars ' his name has been perverted into "John Grumbie"; and failing to recog- nize him in this disguise, Mr. Leach, in his 'History of Winchester College,' p. 249, was tempted to reject the story, as told, for want of a Quinby to whom it could be properly attached. Again, in Messrs. Rashdall and Rait's ' New College,' pp. 101-2, Quinby has been rechristened Peter, and Louthe, who did not go to Oxford until 1538, is spoken of as his contemporary there.

Undeterred by John Quinby's fate, Anthony Quinby, another member of the family, which apparently was settled at Farnham, Surrey, became probationary fellow of New College in 1551. This Anthony had a brother named John, and John was also their father's name. These two John Quinbys, father and son, both died (the son first) in 1557 (wills proved P.C.C., 12 and 46 Wnis fcl (3y)- Talbot's letter closes the door against any suggestion that either of these was identical with the " Mr. Quinby " of Louthe's reminiscences. Talbpt himself, it may be added, was engaged in 1531 in teaching "a school at Borned Wodde " (1 Burntwood, co. Staff.) ; see the above-cited ' Calendar,' vol. v. No. 630, which is not re- ferred to in the life of Talbot in the ' D.N.B.' Nichols was evidently in error in assigning the imprisonment of Talbot and Quinby to 1533, and not to 1528. H. C.

" ALRIGHT "=ALL RIGHT. This form is fast pushing itself bo the front, and bids fair to become soon a recognized word. I have lately met with it half a dozen times in a well-written novel, and I see it almost daily in the letters of decently educated people. So common has it become that telegraph clerks are officially instructed not to accept it unless paid for as two words. C. C. B.

FIFTEENTH - CENTURY RELIGIOUS VERSES. On the back of a deed dated 1395 in the Bodleian Library (Kent Charter 233) are written the following verses, called 'Carta Dei/ representing our Lord's grant of salva- tion to man under the form of a legal con- veyance. I am not sufficiently acquainted


with the many publications of early English verses in recent years to be aware whether these lines have already come to light or not ; but if not already known they well deserve to be printed.

Knowyn alle men that are and schuln ben That I Jhc' of Nazaren Wyt myn wyl and herte good For myn handwerk and for my blod Have grantyd, zovyn and confermyd is To cristenemen in erthe I wys Thourch my charte that the mon se, My body that heng on the tre, A mes tiousyd fayir and fre, It is hevene blysse I telle the, Betwenest and west, north and south, To hem her dwellyn it is wel couth, To havyn and heldyn that swete place Wel gud in pes thourch my grace, To crystene man that synne wyl fle, Heritable and in fee, For the servise that lyt therinne, That is, to kepyn man fro synne, Of the chel [read chef] lord of that fee Every synne nede hee. And I Jhc' of Nazaren And my eyris qwat so he ben In warantyse we schuln us bynde To crystene man wythoutyn hende. In wytnesse of thys thing My syde was opned in selyng. To thys charte tre we and good I have set my seel, myn herthe blod. These arn the wytnesses trewe and gode, The garlond of thorn on myn bed stode, The schorges and the naylis long, And the spere my herte stong, The stoppe ful of eysil and galle, And Hely ely that I gan calle, My blody terys me ronnyn fro, My bondys, my peynis and othir mo. Zovyn and garantyd be my wyl At Calvarie on that held [read hyl], The friday befor the paske day, Therof I may no^t seyn nay, The zer of my regne her Thretty wyntyr and thredde half zer. Hec est carta Dei.

W. D. MACRAY.

THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS. All readers of ancient history are familiar with the passage in ^schylus ; quoted by Plutarch, in which the poet (himself present at the battle) affirms confidently that the ships of the Persian fleet were a thousand in number. Leake considers that this is probably nearly correct, but that those actually engaged were two hundred fewer, because the Egyptian contingent had been told off to guard the Megaric Strait. Grote does not believe this, which rests en- tirely on the authority of Diodorus, and is not referred to by Herodotus. It must be remembered, however, that ^Eschylus states there were about two hundred other Persian ships not engaged in the contest, but does not specify where they were, and seems to