—Josephus (Ant. b. xii. ch. ii. sect. 15.) mentions, as among the presents bestowed by Ptolemy on the Seventy-two elders, "the furniture of the room in which they were entertained." Was this a usual custom of antiquity?
H. J.
Baronette. (Vol. ii., p. 194.)
—In an extract from a statute temp. Hen. IV., it is stated that "dukes, earls, barons, and baronettes might use livery of our lord the king, or his collar," &c. Query the meaning of the term baronette, in the reign of Henry IV.?
B. DE M.
Meaning of "Hernshaw."
—Hernshaw occurs in Hamlet, II. 2. Query, What is the derivation of it? It means, I believe, a young heron. Chaucer ("Squire's Tale," l. 90.) spells it "heronsewe." As sewe signifies a dish (whence the word sewer, he who serves up the dinner), this word applied to heron may mean one fit for eating, young and tender.
J. H. C.
Adelaide, South Australia.