The Black Cap.—Can any of your antiquarian legal readers inform me of the origin of the custom of the judges putting on a black cap when pronouncing sentence of death upon a criminal? I can find no illustration of this peculiar custom in Blackstone, Stephens, or other constitutional writers.
F. J. G.
The Aboriginal Britons.—A friend of mine wants some information as to the history, condition, manners, &c. of the Britons, prior to the arrival of the Romans. What work, accessible to ordinary readers, supplies the best compendium of what is known on this subject? The fullest account of which I have, just now, any recollection, is contained in Milton's History of England, included in an edition of Milton's Prose Works, three vols. folio, Amsterdam, 1694. Is Milton's History a work of any merit or authority?
H. Martin.
Halifax.
Minor Queries with Answers.
"Gossip."—This word, in its obsolete sense, according no doubt to its Saxon origin, means a sponsor, one who answers for a child in baptism, a godfather. Its modern acceptation all know to be widely different. Can any of your correspondents quote a passage or two from old English authors, wherein its obsolete sense is preserved?
N. L. J.
[The word occurs in Chaucer, The Wyf of Bathes Prologue, v. 5825.: