"In nonnullis venerabilium imaginum picturis, agnus qui digito præcursoris monstratur, depingitur, qui ad gratiæ figuram assumptus est, verum nobis agnum per legem Christum Deum nostrum præmonstrans. Antiquas ergo figuras et umbras, ut veritatis signa et characteres ecclesiæ traditos, amplectentes, gratiam et veritatem præponimus, eum ut legis implementum suscipientes. Ut ergo quod perfectum est, vel colorum expressionibus omnium oculis subjiciatur, ejus qui tollit peccata mundi, Christi Dei nostri humana forma characterem etiam in imaginibus deinceps pro veteri agno erigi ac depingi jubemus: ut per ipsum Dei verbi humiliationis celsitudinem mente comprehendentes, ad memoriam quoque ejus in carne conversationis, ejus passionis et salutaris mortis deducamur, ejusque quæ ex eo facta est mundo redemptionis."—Labbé, Sacros. Concil. t. vi., p. 1177. Paris, 1671.
W. DN.
Rotten Row (Vol. i., p. 441.; Vol. ii., p. 235.).
—May I be allowed to re-open the question as to the origin of this name, by suggesting that it may arise from the woollen stuff called rateen? A "Rateenrowe" occurs in 1437 in Bury St. Edmund's, which was the great cloth mart of the north-eastern parts of the kingdom; and where, at the same time, were a number of rows named after trades, as "Lyndraper Row," "Mercer's Row," "Skynner Rowe," "Spycer's Rowe," &c. What is the earliest known instance of the word?
BURIENSIS.
Borough-English (Vol. iv., pp. 133. 214. 235. 259.).
—Watkins' Copyholds furnishes in its appendix a list of the customs of different manors, and therein specifies those which are subject to the custom of Borough-English. With regard to there being any instance on record of its being carried into effect in modern times, there must not be a mistake between the custom which now exists, and that which some authors assert was the origin of it. The custom is, that the youngest son inherits in exclusion of his eldest brothers; this is exercised, or it could not exist. But the custom to which reference has been made, as having been stated by some authors to be the origin of the existing custom of Borough-English, is not mentioned by Littleton as such. He gives a different reason, namely:
"Because the younger son, by reason of his tender age, is not so capable as the rest of his brethren to provide for himself."
And Blackstone adduces a third from the practice of the Tartars, among whom, on the authority of Father Duhalde, he states that this custom of descent to the youngest son also prevails, and gives it in these words:—
"That nation is composed totally of shepherds and herdsmen; and the elder sons, as soon as they are capable of leading a pastoral life, migrate from their father with a certain allotment of cattle, and go to seek a new habitation. The youngest son, therefore, who continues latest with the father, is naturally the heir of his house, the rest being already provided for. And thus we find that among many other northern nations, it was the custom for all the sons but one to migrate from the father, which one became his heir. So that possibly this custom, wherever it prevails, may be the remnant of that pastoral state of our British and German ancestors, which Cæsar and Tacitus describe."