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Whether these books were a portion only, or the whole of the library of Bishop Jewell, I am unable to discover; nor am I aware at present whether Bishop Jewell's autograph is in any of the books of Magdalen College Library. The president was Lawrence Humphrey, author of a Life of Jewell.

Magdalenensis.

THE LOW WINDOW.

The low windows in the chancel of so many of our ancient churches have proved a fruitful source of discussion among archæologists, and numerous theories have been advanced respecting their use. Perhaps the words of the chameleon in the fable might be addressed to many who have attempted to account for their existence, "You all are right and all are wrong"—right in your supposition that they were thus used; but wrong in maintaining that this was the exclusive purpose. Some example, in fact, may be adduced irreconcileable with any particular conjecture, and sufficient to overturn every theory which may be set up. One object assigned is, the distribution of alms; and it is surely reasonable to imagine that money collected at the offertory should have been given to paupers from the chancel through this convenient aperture. The following passage from the Ecclesiologist, quoted in page 441. of "Notes and Queries," has induced me to bring this subject forward:—

"In them (churchyards) prayers are not now commonly poured forth to God, nor are doles distributed to his poor."

Now it must be admitted that relief could scarcely be given to a crowd of importunate claimants without the interposition of some barrier; and where could a more appropriate place be found than the low window? Can any of your readers, therefore, oblige me with some information upon these points? Where were the alms bestowed, if not here? An almonry is described in some recent works as "a building near the church." What authority is there for such an assertion, and do any examples of such structures remain? What evidence is there that this business was transacted in the churchyard, in the porch, or in any particular part of the edifice?

Although these mysterious openings are probably, with one or two exceptions in Normandy, peculiar to this country, it is desirable to ascertain where the poor on the Continent usually receive such charitable donations. In an interior of a Flemish cathedral, by an artist of the sixteenth century, a man is represented in the act of delivering bread to a number of eager beggars, from a sort of pew; showing, at least, as above remarked, that some such protection was requisite.

There is another Query connected with this subject, which I beg to submit. Some ancient frescoes were lately discovered in the chapel of Eton College, with a compartment containing (according to a letter in the Ecclesiologist) a bishop administering the Holy Communion to a converted Jew, through a low window. Can any one, from recollection or the inspection of drawings, (for the original has disappeared,) assure me that he does not hold in his hand a piece of money, or a portion of bread, for the supply of his bodily wants?

T.

Minor Queries.

North Sides of Churchyards unconsecrated.—In the West of England I have found an opinion to prevail in rural parishes, that the north side of our churchyards was left unconsecrated very commonly, in order that the youth of the village might have the use of it as a playground. And, in one parish, some few years ago, I had occasion to interrupt the game of football in a churchyard on the "revel" Sunday, and again on another festival. I also found some reluctance in the people to have their friends buried north of the church.

Is there any ground for believing that our churchyards were ever thus consecrated on the south side of the church to the exclusion of the north?

J. Sansom.

Hatfield—Consecration of Chapel there.—Le Neve, in his Lives of Protestant Bishops (ii. 144.), states, that Richard Neile, Bishop of Lincoln, went to Hatfield, 6th May, 1615, to consecrate the chapel in the house there lately built by Robert, Earl of Salisbury. I have applied to the Registrar of Lincoln diocese, in which Hatfield was (until recently) locally situated, for a copy of the notarial act of consecration; but it appears that the register of Bishop Neile was taken away or destroyed in the Great Rebellion, and that, consequently, no record of his episcopality now exists at Lincoln.

Le Neve says he had the most part of his account of Bishop Neile from Thomas Baker, B.D. of St. John's College, Cambridge, who had it from a grandson of the Bishop's. He quotes also Featley's MS. Collections.

Can any of your readers inform me whether Bishop Neile's episcopal register for Lincoln is in existence, or whether any transcript of it is known? or if any evidence, confirmatory of Le Neve's statement of the fact and date of the consecration of the chapel of Hatfield, is known to exist?

William H. Cope.

P.S. I have examined Dr. Matthew Hutton's transcripts of the Lincoln registers, in the Harleian MSS., but they do not come down to within a century of Bishop Neile's episcopate.

Ulrich von Hutten (Vol. i., p. 336.).—In one of the Quarterly Reviews is an account of Ulrich von Hutten and the Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum. Will S. W. S., or any one who takes interest in Ulrich, tell me where it is? A meagre article in the Retrospective Review, vol. v. p. 56., mentions only one edition of the Epstolæ, Francfurti ad Mainum, 1643. Is there any recent edition with notes? Mine, Lond. 1710, is without, and remarkable only for its dedication to Isaac Bickerstaffe, Esq., and the curious mistake which Isaac made when he acknowledged it in The Tatler, of supposing the letters genuine. Is it known to what

scholar we are indebted for so neat an edition of a book then so little known in England, and so little in accordance with English taste at that time?

H. B. C.

University Club, May 29.

Simon of Ghent.—Can any of your correspondents give me any information concerning Simon, Bishop of Salisbury in 1297-1315, further than what is said of him in Godwini de Præsulibus Angliæ, and in Wanley's Catalogue, where he is mentioned as the author of Regulæ Sanctimonialium Ordinis Sti Jacobi? Why is he called "Gandavensis," or "De Gandavo," seeing that he is said to have been born in London?

J. Morton.

Boetius' Consolations of Philosophy.—Alfred the Great translated this work into Anglo-Saxon; Chaucer, Queen Elizabeth, and Lord Preston into English.

Has Queen Elizabeth's work (which she executed during her captivity before she ascended the throne) been printed? Richard Viscount Preston's appeared first, I believe, in 1712, in 12mo. How often has it been reprinted? What other English translations have been made, and what are the latest?

Jartzberg.

Gloucestershire Gospel Tree.—Mary Roberts, in her Ruins and Old Trees associated with Historical Events, gives a very pretty account of a certain Gospel Tree. Can any kind correspondent inform