Societies, &c., and where will I find authorised copies of them, more particularly those of Pope Pius VII., bearing date 29th June, 1816, and directed to the Primate of Poland; that of 18th September, 1819, against the circulation of the Scriptures in the Irish Schools; that of Leo XII., dated 3rd May, 1824, directed to the Irish clergy, which last is the latest I am acquainted with?

4. What authority is there for using the "Form of receiving Converts from the Church of Rome," as published by the British Reformation Society? Does it occur in any edition of the Book of Common Prayer?

5. What authority is there for the occasional services of 5th November, 30th January, 29th May, and 20th June? Some of these are, I am aware, specially directed by act of parliament; but the point upon which I wish to obtain information is, what the precise amount of obligation is that exists on the officiating minister to use or neglect the services in the absence of any specific directions on the matter from his Ordinary?

6. What authority is there for the use of the Gloria immediately after the minister's announcing the Gospel. No rubric now appears to recognise it?

7. At what period did the practice of playing "a voluntary" upon the organ during the collection of the alms originate? And what is the earliest record of the alms being collected after the communion service and before the sermon, and not after the prayer for the Church Militant?

S. P. H. T.

[The Editor will be happy to insert a reply pointing out sources of information. It is obvious that this is all which the limits of the work and the claims of other correspondents and readers will allow, when questions are proposed which contain many, and some of them difficult and disputed, points.]

SIR WALTER RALEIGH IN VIRGINIA.

I remember having read, some time ago, a statement in the public prints, to the effect that the popular belief, as to Sir Walter Raleigh having visited Virginia, was unfounded: the fact being, that he had projected such a voyage, and that the vessels equipped by him for that purpose had actually reached that country; but that the illustrious voyager himself was prevented by some circumstance from conducting the expedition. This statement seemed to have been elicited by one of the subjects proposed for the decorations of the new Houses of Parliament, namely, "Sir Walter Raleigh landing in Virginia," and the idea was exploded with so much assurance that I had ceased to give it any credence. I find, however, in Hallam's Literature of Europe, 2nd edition, vol. iii. p. 179., that the fact of Sir Walter's having been in Virginia is relied upon by that historian, in the following passage:

"Harriott, the companion of Sir Walter Raleigh in Virginia, and the friend of the Earl of Northumberland, in whose house he spent the latter part of his life, was destined to make the last great discovery in the pure science of algebra."

Are there any data to support Mr. Hallam's opinion? Such is his general accuracy, that few would be disposed to question any statement deliberately put forward by him. In this instance, however, he may have adopted, without inquiry, the tradition which has been current for the last two hundred and fifty years.

HENRY H. BREEN.

St. Lucia, July, 1851.

Minor Queries.

134. Wife of St. Patrick.

—Will some one of your Irish contributors inform me when the 18th of March began to be celebrated in honour of S. Sheelagh, and the ground on which it is asserted that she was the wife of St. Patrick? I cannot find that St. Patrick was married; I am aware, however, that the silence of the usual authorities goes but a little way to disprove the popular tradition, as in days when women were but beginning to assume their present equable station, the mention of a wife at any time would be only casual.

W. DN.

135. Meaning of Mop.

—In the midland counties, servants are hired by the year in the following manner. On the several Tuesdays about Michaelmas, all who wish for engagements collect together at the different towns and villages, whither the masters resort for the purpose of hiring them. Those meetings which occur previous to Michaelmas day are called statute-fairs, while those which take place after that day are termed mops. Query, What is the derivation of this word? I have been told that the later assemblies are so called because they consist of the inferior servants who were not engaged before,—such as use a mop instead of sweeping clean and scouring. A friend conjectures that the name implies "an indiscriminate mopping-up of all sorts, the greater number of servants having gone before, and there being only a few left." I have no book to which I can refer for information on this subject.

J. H. C.

Adelaide, South Australia.

136. William Lovel of Tarent Rawson.

—In Hutchins's Dorset, vol. i. p. 91., is a pedigree of Lovel of Tarrant Rawson carried back to the later years of Hen. VII. In that genealogy the first person is described as William Lovel of Tarent Rawson, alias "Antiocheston." Under what circumstances did he come by this cognomen? Was he connected with any branch of the house of Yvery, and in what manner?

The arms are Barry nebulé of six O. and G., quartering 2. Arg. a cheveron G. between three ermines; 3. Erm. a cheveron sab.; 4. Erm. on a chief indented G. three ducks A.

Crest: a fox az. bezanté collared with a coronet O.

AMANUENSIS.

137. Cagots.

—Can any of your readers give me any information about the Cagots in the south of France, whose history has been written by Mons. Michel, in a work entitled Sur les Races Maudits? There seems to be great doubt about their origin; are they remnants either of the Saracens or the Paulicians? They still, I am told, exist in the deep Pyrenean vallies, and are a most degraded race. Is there any analogy between them and the Cretins of the Alps, with the difference, that in the Alps Cretinism is regarded with kindness, in the Pyrenees with scorn? If so, does this point to the existence of a Celtic and non-Celtic element in the races inhabiting the respective mountain chains? idiotcy being reverenced especially among the Celtic races. Then, as before the first French revolution, the Cagots had a particular place and door set apart for them in the churches. Does not this look like their being Paulicians forced into orthodoxy, or equally, perhaps, Saracen Christians, similar to the Jew Christians of Spain?

RUSTICUS.

138. Execution under singular Circumstances.

—I have read somewhere, but failed to "make a note of it" at the time, an anecdote of a singular occurrence at Winchester, to the following effect.

Some years ago a man was apprehended near ——, in Hampshire, charged with a capital offence (sheep-stealing I believe). After being examined before a justice of the peace, he was committed to the county gaol at Winchester for trial at the ensuing assizes. The evidence against the man was too strong to admit of any doubt of his guilt; he was consequently convicted, and sentence of death (rigidly enforced for this crime at the period alluded to)