"Sanson Baiocensis episcopus."

But yet Odo was Bishop of Bayeux at this time; and notwithstanding what Marbode afterwards said of Bayeux, when he invited his old pupil to meet him there, viz. "Sedes præsulibus sufficit illa tribus," yet Samson, even then, was not Bishop of Bayeux, but of Worcester.

The original words of Vitalis are, "Sansoni Baiocensi," Samson being (temp. Will. I.) Canon and Treasurer of Bayeux, as well as Baron of Dover, and Canon of St. Martin's there, Dean of Wolverhampton, and chaplain to William. He was a married man, and apparently at the time in question only in deacon's orders. One of his sons, at a later period, became Bishop of Bayeux, as did also a grandson, whose mother (according to Beziers) was "Isabelle de Dovre, maîtresse de Robert Conte de Glocester, bâtard de Henri I., Roi d'Angleterre." Upon which I would found a Query, viz., Was this grandson of Samson, whose name was Richard, an uterine or a half brother of Roger, Bishop of Worcester? Both are described as sons of Robert, Earl of Gloucester.

At p. 261. Alberede is described in the text of the translation to be a daughter of "Hugh, Bishop of Evreux," whereas in the original she is said to be "Hugonis Bajocensis episcopi filia."

In a note to this passage we are informed that Hugh, Bishop of Lisieux, died at the Council of Rheims (Oct. 1049), and that he was eldest son of Ralph, Count d'Ivri &c. On the contrary, we are told at p. 428, note 2, that it was Odo's predecessor (i. e. Hugh d'Ivri) in the see of Bayeux, who died at the Council of Rheims, Oct. 1049. Again, in a note at p. 118, we learn that Hugh d'Eu, who succeeded Herbert as Bishop of Lisieux in 1050, or the year following the Council in question, did not vacate that see until 1077.

Before I close this Note, I should be glad to inquire what grounds the editor has for asserting (p. 32, n. 1.) that Thomas, Archbishop of York, "was not a chaplain to the king" before his promotion. Thierry, Histoire de la Conquête, &c. (Par. 1825, tome ii. p. 18.), says: "Thomas, l'un des chapelains du roi, fut nommé archevêque d'York." And by Godwin (De Præsul. Angl., tom. ii. p. 244.) we are told that Odo—

"Eum (Thomam) Thesaurarium Baiocensem constituit, et postea Regi fratri commendavit, ut illi esset a sacras."

Anon.

A CURIOUS EXPOSITION.

The following curious illustration, which I met with the other day in a book where few would be likely to look for it, seems to me fairly to deserve a place among the Notes of your interesting publication. It forms the moral exposition, by Cornelius à Lapide, of Ex. vii. 22.: "And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments," &c.

"See here," he says, "how the devil contends with God, the magicians with the prophets, and heretics with the orthodox, by imitating their words and deeds. In our days, as the English Martyrology testifies, Richard White (Vitus) disputed with a wicked English Calvinist, who was more mighty in drinking than in argument, concerning the keys of the Church, and when the heretic pertinaciously asserted that they were given to himself, White wittily and ingeniously replied: 'I believe that they have been given to you as they were to Peter, but with this distinction, that his were the keys of heaven, but yours of the beer-cellar;

for this the rubicund promontory of your nose indicates.' Thus do heretics turn water into blood. This is their miracle."

Richard White I presume to have been an ejected Fellow of New College, Oxford, afterwards rector of the University of Douai, and a Count Palatine of the empire, author of sundry antiquarian and theological works; but it is surely strange that this piece of ribaldry, of which he had been guilty, should be thought worthy of being recorded; and still more so, that it should be thus applied by a grave and learned Jesuit commentator.

C. W. B.

Minor Notes.

Inscription.—The following quaint inscription is to be found on a gravestone in the churchyard of Llangollen, North Wales:

J. R. G.

Dublin.

Antiquarian Documents.—At a time when public records and state papers are being thrown open by the Government in so liberal a spirit, might not some plan be devised for admitting the public to the Church's antiquarian documents also, treasured in the various chapter-houses, diocesan registries, and cathedral libraries?

Might not catalogues of these be printed, as well as the more historically valuable and curious of the papers themselves? And is there any sufficient reason why the earlier portions of the parochial registers throughout the country might not be published, say down to the commencement of the present century, prior to which they appear to have no other value except for literary purposes?

J. Sansom.

Bishop Watson's Map of Europe in 1854.—The following paragraph is an extract from a letter written by Bishop Watson to Dr. Falconer of Bath, in the year 1804:

"The death of a single prince in any part of Europe, remarkable either for wisdom or folly, renders political conjectures of future contingencies so extremely uncertain, that I seldom indulge myself in forming them; yet it seems to me probable, that Europe will soon be divided among three powers, France, Austria, and Russia; and in half a century between two, France and Russia; and that America will become the greatest naval power on the globe, and be replenished by migrations of oppressed and discontented people from every part of Europe."—See Anecdotes of the Life of Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, 2 vols. 8vo., London, 1818, vol. ii. p. 196.

C. Forbes.

Temple.

Extracts from the Registers of the Bishops of Lincoln.—In searching through the registers of the bishops of Lincoln, the following curious entries met my eye:

"Smoke-farthings.—Commissio domini episcopi ad levandum le Smoke farthinges, alias dict. Lincoln farthinges a nostris Archidiaconatus nostri Leycestriæ: subditis ad utilitatem nostræ matricis ecclesiæ Cath. Linc. sponsæ nostræ convertend., dicti Smoke farthinges conceduntur ad constructionem campanili ecclesiæ prebendalis Sanctæ Margaretæ Leycestr. 1444."

The above entry occurs at fo. 48. of the register of William Alnewick, Bishop of Lincoln.

"A^o 1450. Testamentum domini Thomæ Cumberworth, militis.—In the name of Gode and to his loveyng, Amen. I, Thomas Cumbyrworth, knyght, the xv day of Feberer, the yere of oure Lord m^lcccc and L. in clere mynde and hele of body, blyssed be Gode, ordan my last wyll on this wyse folowyng. Furst, I gyff my sawle to God, my Lorde and my Redemptur, and my wrechid body to be beryd in a chiffe w^towte any kyste in the northyle of the parych kirke of Someretby be my wyfe, and I wyll my body ly still, my mowth opyn, untild xxiiij owrys, and after laid on bere w[t]towtyn any thyng y^ropon to coverit bot a sheit and a blak cloth, w^t a white crose of cloth of golde, but I wyl my kyste be made and