The spelling of the word "gospel" varies throughout; thus, in Mark, fols. lxiiii-lxxii., xci., xciv., xcv., xcvii., and xcviii. it is "ghospel;" on lxxiii-lxxvi., lxxviii., it is "gospell;" on the rest "gospel." So also throughout St. Luke, which occupies cc. foll., it varies in like manner, "ghospell" being there the more common form. The initial letter to St. Luke represents Jacob's dream; on the first page of fol. vi. of St. Luke the translator's preface ends, "Geven at London the last day of Septembre, in the yere of our Lorde M.D.XLV." On fol. xiii. of the same, Erasmus' own preface ends, "Geven at Basill the xxii. dai of August ye yere of our Lord, M.D." (the rest effaced). On the first page of fol. viii. of St. John's Gospel the preface ends, "Geven at Basile the yere of our Lord, M.D.XXIII. the v daye of Januarye." If these notes are sufficient to identify my copy with any particular edition, it will afford a real pleasure to
A YORKSHIRE SUBSCRIBER.
Iland Chest.—In some wills of Bristol merchants of the latter part of the 16th century, I have met with the bequest of a chattel called an "Iland Chest:" thus, ex.g. "Item: to Edmond Poyley I give the Iland chest in the great chamber wherein his linen was." Mention is made of the like article in two or three other instances. An explanation of the word and an account of the kind of chest will much oblige.
B.W.G.
D'Israeli on the Court of Wards.—D'Israeli, in his article upon "Usurers of the Seventeenth Century" (Curios. of Lit. iii. 89. old ed.), which is chiefly upon Hugh Audley, a master of the Court of Wards and Liveries, speaks of that court as "a remarkable institution, on which I purpose to make some researches." Can any of your readers inform me if D'Israeli acted upon this resolve, and, if so, where the results of labours are to be found?
J.B.
Ancient Tiles.—Two birds, back to back, with heads turned to each other, were common on ancient tiles. What are they intended to represent or to emblemise?
B.
Pilgrimage of Kings, &c.—Blind Man's Buff —Muffin—Hundred Weight, &c.— 1. Can your readers oblige me with the name of the author and the date of a work entitled The Pilgrimage of Kings and Princes, of which I possess an imperfect copy—a small quarto? 2. What is the etymology of the game Blind Man's Buff? I am led to doubt whether that was the old spelling of it, for in a catalogue now before me I find a quarto work by Martin Parker, entitled The Poet's Blind Man's Bough, or Have among you my Blind Harpers, 1641. 3. What is the origin of the word muffin? It is not in Johnson's Dictionary. Perhaps this sort of tea-cake was not known in his day. 4. By what logic do we call one hundred and twelve pounds merely a hundred weight? 5. I shall feel still more obliged if your readers can inform me of any works on natural history, particularly adapted for a literary man to refer to at times when poetical, mythological, scriptural, and historical associations connected with animals and plants are in question. I am constantly feeling the want of a work of the kind to comprehend zoological similes and allusions, and also notices of customs and superstitions connected with animals, when reading our old poets and chroniclers. Even the most celebrated zoological works are of no use to me in such inquiries.
STEPHEN BEAUCHAMP.