ομου, simul, at the same time; and we find that this ā refers us to "a limit conclusive" (to that place, to that time), and also to a "limit inceptive" (from THAT place, from that time); consequently, the primary meaning of α-δελ-φ-ος, is what Scapula has defined it to be, "frater uterinus," a brother to, or from the SAME womb.

My deduction from hence is, that where the context, or history, does not point us to a more general sense of the word, i.e. to relatives such as cousins, or to the whole human race adopting the same term; correct criticism seems to demand the signification of the word in its primary meaning.

T. R. BROWN.

Vicarage, Southwick, near Oundle.

LAMBERT, THE "ARCH-REBELL."

Mr. Hallam (Const. Hist., vol. ii. p. 26. ed. 1850), after some remarks on the execution of Vane, who was brought to trial together with Lambert in 1661, asserts that the latter, "whose submissive behaviour had furnished a contrast with that of Vane, was sent to Guernsey, and remained a prisoner for thirty years." Mr. Hallam does not quote his authority for this statement, which I also find in the older biographical dictionaries. There exists, however, in the library of the Plymouth Athenæum, a MS. record which apparently contradicts it. This is a volume called Plimmouth Memoirs, collected by James Yonge, 1684. It contains "a Catalogue of all the Mayors, together with the memorable occurrences in their respective years," beginning in 1440. Yonge himself lived in Plymouth, and the later entries are therefore made from his own knowledge. There are two concerning Lambert:

"1667. Lambert, the arch-rebell, brought prisoner to this Iland."

[The Island of St. Nicholas at the entrance of the harbour, fortified from a very early period.]

"1683, Easter day. My Lord Dartmouth arrived in Plimmo. from Tangier. In March, Sir G. Jeffry, the famously [Query, infamously] loyal Lord Chief Justice, came hither from Launceston assize: lay at the Mayor's: viewed ye citadells, Mt. Edgecumbe, &c.

"The winter of this yeare proved very seveare. East wind, frost, and snow, continued three moneths: so that ships were starved in the mouth of the channell, and almost all the cattel famisht. Ye fish left ye coast almost 5 moneths. All provisions excessive deare; and had we not had a frequent supply from ye East, corne would have been at 30s. per bushell,—above 130,000 bushells being imported hither, besides what went to Dartmo., Fowy, &c.

"The Thames was frozen up some moneths, so that it became a small citty, with boothes, coffee houses, taverns, glasse houses, printing, bull-baiting, shops of all sorts, and whole streetes made on it. The birdes of the aire died numerously. Lambert, that olde rebell, dyed this winter on Plimmo. Island, where he had been prisoner 15 years and mo."

The trial of Lambert took place in 1661. He may have been sent at first to Guernsey, but could only have remained there until removed in 1667 to Plymouth. His imprisonment altogether lasted twenty-one years.

Lambert's removal to Plymouth has, I believe, been hitherto unnoticed. Probably it was thought a safer (and certainly, if he were confined in the little island of St. Nicholas, it was a severer) prison than Guernsey.

RICHARD JOHN KING.

THE CAXTON COFFER.

An opinion prevails that biographers who lived nearest the times of the individuals whom they commemorate are most entitled to belief, as having at command the best sources of information. To this rule, however, there are numerous exceptions; for time, which casts some facts into oblivion, also produces fresh materials for historians and biographers.

It is certainly advisable to consult the earliest memoir of an individual in whose fate we take an interest, and even each successive memoir, in order that we may trace the more important historical particulars, and such critical opinions as seem to require discussion, to their true source. The result of some comparisons of this description, on former occasions, has almost led me to consider biographers as mere copyists—or, at the best, artists in patch-work. I shall now compare, on one point, the earlier biographers of Caxton:—

"Gvilhelmus Caxton, Anglus—habitavit interim in Flandria 30 annis cum domina Margareta Burgundiæ ducissa regis Edwardi sorore."—Joannes BALE, 1559.

"Gvilhelmvs Caxtonus, natione Anglus. Vir pius, doctus, etc. In Flandria quidem triginta annis vixit cum Margareta Burgundiæ duce, regis Edwardi quarti sorore."—Joannes PITSEUS, 1619.

"William Caxton, born in that town [sc. Caxton!]. He had most of his education beyond the seas, living 30 years in the court of Margaret dutchesse of Burgundy, sister to king Edward the Fourth, whence I conclude him an Anti-Lancastrian in his affection."—Thomas FULLER, 1662.

"William Caxton—was a menial servant, for thirty years together, to Margaret dutchess of Burgundy, sister to our king Edward IV., in Flanders."—William NICOLSON, 1714.

"Gulielmus Caxton natus in sylvestri regione Cantiae; in Flandria, Brabantia, Hollandia, Zelandia xxx annis cum domina Margareta, Burgundiae ducissa, regis Edwardi IV. sorore vixit."—Thomas TANNERUS, 1748.

Now, according to Fabian, Stow, and others, Margaret of York was married to Charles duke of Burgundy in 1468; and if Caxton did not return to England about the year 1471, as Stow asserts, he was certainly established at Westminster in 1477. The thirty years of the learned writers must therefore be reduced to less than ten years!

The discrepancy between these writers, on another important point, is not less remarkable than their agreement in error, as above-described. Pits says Caxton flourished in 1483; Fuller, that he died in 1486; and Tanner, that he flourished about 1483, and died in 1491. Shakspere died in 1616: in what year did he flourish?

BOLTON CORNEY.

Minor Notes.

A Hint to Catalogue Makers.

—Among the many excellent schemes proposed for the arrangement and diffusion of common means of information, one simple one appears to have been passed over by your many and excellent correspondents. I will briefly illustrate an existing deficiency by an example.

While collecting materials for a projected critical commentary on the Timæus of Plato, I was surprised to find the commentary of Chalcidius wholly wanting in our library at Christ Church. Subsequently (when I did not want it, having secured a better edition at the end of