J. R. G.
Dublin.
[It originated from the old custom of putting up boughs upon anything which was intended for sale; and "this is the reason," says Brande, "why an old besom (which is a sort of dried bush) is put up at the top-mast-head of a ship or boat when she is to be sold.">[
Replies.
THE ADVICE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO JULIUS III.
(Vol. viii., p. 54.; Vol. ix. passim.)
Your correspondent Novus has very judiciously warned controversialists on the use of a document as emanating from the papal court, which, to every one who reads it through (if a shorter examination will not be satisfactory), must carry evidence of its not being papal authority, but intended as a satire on Rome. A writer in the Christian Remembrancer, vol. xii., attaches undue importance to the signatures, in the absence of which, he admits, "we should conclude that this was the production of some enemy in disguise."
In a 4to. volume of Tracts now before me is a copy of the genuine document—
"Consilium delectorum cardinalium et aliorum prælatorum, de emendanda ecclesia. S. D. N. Papa Paulo III. ipso jubente conscriptum et exhibitum anno 1538;"