316
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. OCT. 17, im
(quoted by Ormerod), is described as being
more splendid and truly valuable than any
which had been previously offered to the
curious, and such as " astonished not only
the opulent purchasers, but the most
experienced and intelligent booksellers of
the metropolis."
Some account of the apparently important sale would be interesting. Who were the " two deceased antiquaries " ? R. S. B.
" PLANE SAILING " on " PLAIN SAILING " (10 S. x. 270). Plane sailing is the correct form, as it is derived from a method in naviga- tion in which the earth's surface is treated as if it were a plane surface, and not a curved one. Plane geometry and spherical geo- metry may be called to mind in this con- nexion. F. HOWARD COLLINS.
Torquay.
Plain sailing is, in navigation, sailing by the plain chart, i.e., a plain or chart having the degrees of longitude made of equal length with those of latitude. ' Chambers' s Encyclopaedia ' says : " Plain charts are those wherein the meridians and parallels are exhibited by eight lines parallel to each other." J. HOLDEN MACMICHAEL.
To the seaman, at all events, " plain sail- ing " means simple, easy sailing, the circum- stances being such that he can lay his course in a straight line. This is possible only with a " fair wind " that is to say, a wind which does not blow from any point within an arc of about fifty degrees on either side of his objective. A fair wind needs so little exer- cise of seamanship that it is sometimes called " a soldier's wind." HAMMOND HALL.
THE NOBBISES or MILVEBTON, SOMEBSET (10 S. x. 225). The will of Isote Baker of Milverton, dated 20 Nov., 1554, and proved at Taunton, 16 Nov., 1557, mentions John Noris, her daughter's son ; Richard Noris, her godson ; and Elizabeth Noris, her daughter. No other Norrises are mentioned. It seems probable that John and Richard were both children of Elizabeth Noris, and that they were her only children in 1554. G. S. PABBY, Lieut.-Col.
ARMS OF ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS (10 S. x. 228). Though unable to reply to MB. HIBGAME'S query, I may, per- haps, be allowed to call attention to five out of the numerous questions to which it gives rise.
1. If the modern Catholic sees of England and Wales have arms, such arms were presumably granted by the Pope, and not by
the College of Arms. What authority granted
the arms of the pre-Reformation Catholic
dioceses, now impaled by Anglican bishops-
with their paternal coats ?
2. I am told that Tunstall (who became Bishop of Durham in 1529) impaled the arms of his see with his paternal coat. Did any other pre-Reformation English bishop do the like ?
3. What Catholic sees have coats of arms ? In Italy the sees have no arms, or, if they have them, their occupants do not impale them. An Italian bishop who is a member of a religious order bears the arms of his order in Qhief (e.g., the present Bishop of Padua bears the Franciscan arms thus, as did Pope Clement XIV., and as Pope Benedict XIII. bore the Benedictine arms), or impales them (e.g., Pope Pius VII. impaled the Benedictine arms, and Pope Gregory XVI. the Camaldo- lese) ; but I know of no example of an Italian bishop impaling the arms of his see.
4. The present Pope and the present Cardinal-Patriarch of Venice both bear in chief the arms of the city (formerly the republic) of Venice. Did previous Patriarchs of Venice do the like ?
5. The arms of the Archdiocese of West- minster (whencesoever obtained) are identical with those of the Archdiocese of Canterbury, except that the field is gules instead of azure. Cardinals Wiseman and Manning did not impale these arms. Cardinal Vaughan did, and the present Archbishop of Westminster does. What is the explanation of this diversity of usage ?
JOHN B. WAINEWBIGHT.
SNAKES DBINKING MILK (10 S. x. 265). The belief that snakes, and especially the black snake, drink milk is very common in Virginia, and I think in the Southern States generally. I never actually saw one do so, but in a farmhouse where I was stay- ing a saucer of milk was put down by the fire every night for the house snake, and I noticed it was always empty in the morning. I remember also locking a vessel of milk up in a cupboard, and finding it nearly all gone in a few hours. I could not at all account for it till a black snake was found
in one corner.
The small orange and black snake is com- monly called the " cow sucker," and negroes certainly believe that it lives up to its name, whatever naturalists may say to the contrary. I have also constantly heard it asserted, by white as well as coloured people, that snakes will follow for miles a woman with a child at the breast ; and the black snake
