sufficiently conversant with our earlier translations to identify, without reference, the sheets of the inserted edition, and I have not time to refer. I may only say that there is a most quaint woodcut of little David slinging a stone at the giant Goliath. A slight collation of Genesis shows me this large edition agrees in corrections with the small one the Clarendon Press authorities used, though my quarto 1613 differs, adhering, as I said before, more closely to the original standard of 1611. I would put a Query or two to your many readers.

1. Was the great folio 1613 ever published entire, or are the sheets I have indicated supplied in every known copy, some from earlier, some from later, impressions? 2. Is it an established fact, that the translators revised their work in 1613? 3. What is the small quarto of 1613 I have mentioned?

Lastly, would it not be an interesting enterprise to reprint our various translations of the holy volume in a cheap and uniform series, like the Parker Society published the Liturgy? A society might be formed by subscription to support such an object. We might have Coverdale's, Matthews', Cranmer's, Taverner's, the Geneva (1560), the Bishops' (Parker's, 1568), and the noble authorised (Royal 1611), with their variations noted. I cannot see any harm would arise; and surely it might give an impulse to that noblest of all studies, the study of God's Word. What grander volume for simplicity and elegance of language, for true Anglo-Saxon idiom, than our present venerated translation? What book that could interest more than Cranmer's Great Bible of 1539, from whence our familiar Prayer-Book version of the Psalms is taken? It would give me heartfelt pleasure to contribute my humble efforts in such a cause.

Richard Hooper, M.A.

St. Stephen's, Westminster.

MARRIAGE LICENCE OF JOHN GOWER THE POET.

The following special licence of marriage extracted from the Register of William of Wykeham, preserved in the registry at Winchester, is a curious document in itself; but if, as there is much reason for supposing, the person on whose behalf it was granted was no less a man than the illustrious poet—the "moral Gower"—the interest attached to it is very much enhanced: and for this reason I am desirous of giving it publicity through the columns of "N. & Q."—a fit place for recording such pieces of information, relating to the lives of men eminent in the annals of literature. I have not been able to find any notice of the marriage of John Gower in the books to which I have been able to refer; and, though it may be perhaps an event of little importance, it is one which a faithful biographer would never omit to mention. The document is as follows:

"Willelmus permissione divina Wyntoniensis Episcopus, dilecto in Christo filio, domino Willelmo, capellano parochiali ecclesiæ S. Mariæ Magdalenæ in Suthwerk, nostræ diocesis, salutem, gratiam, et benedictionem. Ut matrimonium inter Joannem Gower et Agnetem Groundolf dictæ ecclesiæ parochianos sine ulteriore bannorum editione, dumtamen aliud canonicum non obsistat, extra ecclesiam parochialem, in

Oratorio ipsius Joannis Gower infra hospicium cum in prioratu B. Mariæ de Overee in Suthwerk prædicta situatum, solempnizare valeas licenciam tibi tenore præsentium, quatenus ad nos attinet, concedimus specialem. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum nostrum fecimus his apponi. Dat. in manerio nostro de alta clera vicesimo quinto die mensis Januarii, A.D. 1397, et nostræ consecrationis 31mo."

The connexion of the poet Gower with the priory of St. Mary Overy is well known; as well as his munificence in contributing very largely to the reconstruction of the church of the priory, in which he also founded a chantry, and where his tomb still exists. It would appear from this document, that he actually resided within the priory.

This marriage must have taken place late in his life. The year of his birth is unknown. He is said to have been somewhat older than Chaucer, the date of whose birth is also uncertain; there being some grounds for assigning it to 1328, others, perhaps more satisfactory, for fixing it 1345. If the latter be correct, and if we allow for the disparity of age, we may suppose Gower to have been somewhere between fifty-five and sixty years of age at the time of his marriage with Agnes Groundolf.

W. H. Gunner.

Winchester.

ASKA OR ASCA.

Throughout North America this dissyllable is found terminating names in localities, occupied at the present day by Indian tribes speaking very different languages; and, in these languages, with the exception of such names, few analogous sounds exist. There are, besides, names terminating in esco, isco, isca, escaw, uscaw, which, perhaps, may be placed in the same category, being only accidental variations of aska, arising from a difference of ear in those who first heard them pronounced by a native tongue.

Are these names vernacular in any of the modern Indian languages? and, if so, what is their real meaning? I propound these questions for solution by any of the gentlemen at Fort Chepewyan, Norway House, &c. (since, no doubt, "N. & Q." penetrates the Far West as well as the Far East), who may feel an interest in the subject.

Apparently, they have been imposed by a people who occupied the whole continent from sea to sea, as they occur from Hudson's Bay to Yucatan, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

Were the American nations originally of one tongue? Humboldt, Du Ponceau, and others have remarked that striking analogies of grammatical construction exist in all American languages, from the Eskimo to the Fuegian, although differing entirely in their roots. Dr. Prichard says,—

"There are peculiarities in the very nature of the American languages which are likely to produce great variety in words, and to obliterate in a comparatively short period the traces of resemblance."—Phys. Hist. &c., vol. v. p. 317.

It may be only a curious coincidence, but it is undoubtedly true, that, with scarcely one exception, all names (we might almost say words) so terminating are more or less connected with water. The exception (if it really be one) is Masca, which I have found among my old notes, followed by the word Montagne; but nothing more, and I have forgotten all about it.

For the rest, the varieties in isca, &c., spoken of before, are chiefly to be found in the northern countries, towards Hudson's and James' Bay, &c., where the present spoken languages are the Eskimo or Karalit, the Cree, and the Montagnard dialect of the Algonkin, viz. Agomisca, island in James' Bay; Meminisca, lake on Albany River; Nemiskau, a lake; Pasquamisco, on James' Bay; then, Keenwapiscaw, lake; Naosquiscaw, ditto; Nepiscaw, ditto; Camipescaw, ditto; Caniapuscaw, ditto and river: the last five lie between the head waters of the Saguenay and the bottom of James' Bay.

Again, beginning at the extreme west, we find Oonalaska, or Agoun Aliaska, or (according to the natives) Nagoun Alaska, an island abounding in fine springs and rivulets. Nor should I omit another of the Aleutian islands, called Kiska.

Alaska, or Aliaska, a peninsula. The language in these instances is a branch of the