[1183] “Præterea quotannis die, quæ dicitur carnivale (ut a puerorum ludis incipiamus, omnes enim pueri fuimus) scholarum singuli pueri suos apportant magistro suo gallos gallinaceos pugnatores, et totum illud antemeridanum datur ludo puerorum vacantium spectare in scholis suorum pugnas gallorum.” I have transcribed these words from the first edition of this old topography, which is entitled A Survey of London, written in the year 1598, by John Stow ... with an appendix containing Libellum de situ et nobilitate Londini, written by William Fitzstephen. Lond. 1599, 4to, p. 480. Stow translates the word Carnivale by Shrove Tuesday.
[1184] Du Cange, Glossarium. This council, as I conjecture, was held in the town of Copriniacum in diocesi Burdegalensi, which, as some think, was Cognac.
[1185] See Maitland’s London, and Stow’s Survey, by Strype, i. p. 302. edit. 1754.
[1186] Bell’s Travels, p. 303.
[1187] Tavernier.
[1188] Dampier. Also the Gentleman’s Mag. 1770, p. 564.
[1189] Wafer, p. 118.
SALTPETRE. GUNPOWDER. AQUAFORTIS.
In examining the question, whether Theophrastus, Pliny, and in general the ancient Greeks and Romans, were acquainted with our saltpetre, or at what period it became known, I shall perhaps meet with as little success as those who have preceded me in the same research[1190]. I shall therefore be satisfied if competent judges allow that I have contributed anything new that can tend to illustrate the subject.