Sincere (Vol. viii., p. 195.).—I should be glad if Mr. Ingleby would point out any authority for the practice of the Roman potters to which he refers. The only passage I can call to mind as countenancing his derivation is Hor. Ep. i. 2. 54.:
"Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcumque infundis, acescit."
in which there is no reason why sincerum should not be simply sine cera, sine fuco, i. e. pure as honey, free or freed from the wax, thence anything pure. This derivation is supported also by Donatus, ad Ter. Eun. i. 2. 97., and Noltenius, Lex. Antibar. Cicero also, who chose his expressions with great accuracy, employs sincerus as directly opposed to fucatus in his Dialogus de Amicit. 25.:
"Secernere omnis fucata et simulata a sinceris atque veris."
In the absence of positive proof on the side, I am inclined to think Mr. Trench right.
H. B.
Books chained to Desks in Churches—Seven Candlesticks (Vol. viii., pp. 94. 206.).—In Mr. Sperling's Church Walks in Middlesex, it is noted in the account of the church at Whitchurch (alias Little Stanmore), that—
"Many of the prayer books, given by the duke [of Chandos], still remain chained to the pues for the use of the poorer parishioners."—P. 104.
At p. 138. a curious ornament of some of the London churches is referred to:
"We find several altar-pieces in which seven wooden candlesticks, with wooden candles, are introduced, viz. St. Mary-at-Hill; St. Ethelburgs, Bishopsgate; Hammersmith, &c.: these are merely typical of the seven golden candlesticks of the Apocalypse."—Rev. i. 20.