contradiction.

Sir Francis Bacon, in his argument against Sir John Hollis and others for traducing public justice, states that—

"Popham, a great judge in his time, was complained of by petition to Queen Elizabeth; it was committed

to four privy councillors, but the same was found to be slanderous, and the parties punished in the court."—State Trials, vol. ii. p. 1029.

If this petition could be discovered, and it should turn out that the slander complained of in it had reference to this story, the investigation which it then underwent by the four privy councillors, and the chief justice's enjoyment of his high office for so many subsequent years, would go far to prove the utter falsehood of the charge. This is a "consummation devoutly to be wished" by every one who feels an interest in the purity of the bench, and particularly by the present possessors of the estate, who must be anxious for their ancestor's fame.

Your useful publication has acted the part of the "detective police" in the elucidation of many points of history less interesting than this, and I trust you will consider the case curious enough to justify a close examination.

Edward Foss.

EARLY EDITION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

I should be greatly obliged if I could obtain through "N. & Q." when, where, and by whom an imperfect black-letter copy of the New Testament, lately come into my possession, was printed, and also who was the translator of it.

It is bound in boards, has three thongs round which the sheets are stitched, seems never to have been covered with cloth, leather, or other material like our modern books, has had clasps, and is four inches long and two inches thick.

The chapters are divided generally into four or five parts by means of the first letters of the alphabet. The letters are neither placed equidistant, nor do they always mark a fresh paragraph.

It is not divided into verses. There are a few marginal references, and the chapter and letter of the parallel passages are given.

Crosses are placed at the heads of most chapters, and also throughout the text, without much apparent regularity. It contains a few rude cuts of the Apostles, &c. The Epistles of St. Peter and St. John are placed before that to the Hebrews.

Letters are frequently omitted in the spelling, and this is indicated by a dash placed over the one preceding the omitted letter. A slanting mark (/) is the most frequent stop used. I will transcribe a few lines exactly as they occur, only not using the black-letter.

"B. As some spake of the temple/ howe yt was garnesshed with goodly stones and iewels he sayde. The dayes will come/ when of these thyngis which ye se shall not be lefte stone upon stone/ that shall not be throwen doune. And they asked hym sayinge/ Master whē shall these thynges be? And what sygnes wil there be/ when suche thynges shal come to passe."—St. Luke, ch. xxi.

Land is spelt londe; saints, sainctis; authority, auctorite, &c.

A. Boardman.

P.S. It commences at the 19th chapter of St. Matthew, and seems perfect to the 21st chapter of Revelation.

Minor Queries.

Ravilliac.—I have read that a pyramid was erected at Paris upon the murder of Henry IV. by Ravilliac, and that the inscription represented the Jesuits as men—

"Maleficæ superstitonis, quorum instinctu peculiaris adolescens (Ravilliac) dirum facinus instituerat."—Thesaur. Hist., tom. iv. lib. 95, ad ann. 1598.

We are also informed that he confessed that it was the book of Mariana the Jesuit, and the traitorous positions maintained in it, which induced him to murder the king, for which cause the book (condemned by the parliament and the Sorbonne) was publicly burnt in Paris. Is the pyramid still remaining? If not, when was it taken down or destroyed, and by whom or by whose authority?

Clericus (D).

Emblem on a Chimney-piece.—In the committee room of the Church Missionary Society, Nos. 16. and 17. Upper Sackville Street, Dublin, a curious emblem-picture is carved on the centre of the white marble chimney-piece. An angel or winged youth is sleeping in a recumbent posture; one arm embraces a sleeping lion, in the other hand he holds a number of bell flowers. In the opposite angle the sun shines brightly; a lizard is biting the heel of the sleeping youth. I shall not offer my own conjectures in explanation of this allegorical sculpture, unless your correspondents fail to give a more satisfactory solution.

Ath Celiath.

"To know ourselves diseased," &c.—

"To know ourselves diseased, is half the cure."

Whence?

C. Mansfield Ingleby.