of 1651. Seuerall apparitions in the aire there were this spring, in some part of Staffordshire; and in Shropshire two armies in the clouds were seen in battalio, and seemed to encounter one another. Vpon the 15 daye of May, there was another Earthquake felt in Leicestershire. The last entry is on Nov. 18, 1651, and at the end, is an ornamental piece of scroll work, bearing the motto-FINIS CORONAT OPUS, and the initials T. W.

I cannot find the name of the writer mentioned in any work of reference, to which I have access here, and shall feel grateful for any particulars respecting this Thomas Willford, and for information whether the manuscript in my possession has ever been printed? Leicester, Dec. 10. WILLIAM KELLY.

bright hue;

As only fitting but to bind a Lady's hair or lute,

And not with war, or warrior's crest in armed field to suit. But there's a charm in ev'ry leaf, a deep and mystic spell; Then take the wreath, my loyal Knight, Our Lady shield thee well;

And, though still prouder favors deck the gallant knights of France,

Oh, be the first in ev'ry field, LA FLEUR DE SOUVENANCE!

How bland, how still, this summer eve, sure never gentler hour.

For lay of love, or sigh of lute, to breathe in lady's bow'r; Then listen, with a Lover's faith, all thoughts of war forgot,

To the legend of my token flow'r, the charm'd FORGET ME NOT.

Young Albert led his Ida forth, when the departing sun Still linger'd in the golden West, and shone like treasures

home;

A very cloud of azure flow'rs in rich profusion bloom; Winds of the lake! your passing sighs breathe of their rich perfume.

In nameless beauty all unmasked, in solitude they smile, As if they bloomed but for the stars, or birds of that lone isle:

For never yet hath mortal foot touch'd that enchanted shore, Long hallowed by wildly imagined tales of gore.

Full well I love those distant flow'rs, whose pure and tender blue

Seem fitting emblems of a faith, unchanging as their hue; And wouldst thou venture for my love as thou wouldst for

One parting kiss of his fair bride, and swiftly far away. Like the wild swan whose home he sought, young Albert met the spray

Of rising waves, which foamed in wrath, as if some spirit's

hand

Awoke the genii of the lake, to guard their mystic land.

won

*

The words so lined through are not erasures, though that is the modern mode of erasing words or phrases which are objectionable. The earlier scribes by these lines implied that a particular emphasis should rest on these words, and that the reader should observe their import in particular, as we now underline them in writing, or print them in an italic type.

TRANSLATIONS OF BISHOPS.-When did the practice commence? or is there any record of the first person who was thus preferred or translated to a sec, other than the one to which he was first appointed? Carlisle, Dec. 8.

F. M. In Atkins' History of Gloucester, it is said, Gilbert Foliot, Abbot of that Monastery in 1139, was consecrated bishop of Hereford, Sept. 5, 114, and translated to the see of London, in 1163, being the first instance of the translation of a bishop in England. The assertion is very erroneous, as prior to that date. Gerard, bishop of Hereford, circa 1095, was translated to York, in 1100. Still earlier. Herman, bishop of Winton, in 1046, was translated as bishop of Shireburn, in 1050. He removed the latter see to Salisbury, and was deceased in 1078, or before. There may possibly have been even earlier translations among the Anglo-Saxon bishops.

ST. BERNARD'S SAUCE.-Reading recently of some viands served up with St. Bernard's sauce, the meaning appeared to me to be obscure. I have looked into Halliwell's Dictionary and other authorities, but fail to find any solution of this delicacy, if such it be. Can any reader of Current Notes render any elucidation of this phrase? Liverpool, Dec. 4. S. T. St. Bernard's sauce is an ironical term for hunger.

6

PICTORIAL NIMBUS, OR GLORY.

work, the Legends of the Madonna,' does not as I am sorry to observe that Mrs. Jameson's beautiful stated in a note appended to my inquiry in your October number, furnish any exact information on the subject referred to. Whether Didron's Christian Iconography is more to the purpose I am not able to judge, as the work is not in my possession. In Mrs. Jameson's volume some of the few examples from Dutch artists represent the Nimbus in the form of rays proceeding from the head of the Virgin and the Child; and I have an old picture on which are the painter's initials I. A. V.; head of glory-the latter with the rays very marked and where both of these figures are represented with this very striking. The head of the Virgin has a thin circle of light, and a small point or two of condensed rays issuing beneath from the back part of the corner of the head. The subject is the Adoration of the Shepherds, one of whom presents a lamb. The infant Child is lying on a white cloth, and the Virgin Mother in a kneeling posture, is looking upon him, with her hands closed in the attitude of prayer. The artist, I think, must have been Flemish or Dutch, and probably the Nimbus referred to, may be characteristic of the painter. Query whom?

Your correspondent F. R. N. H. in his interesting rayed or flame like Nimbus is a characteristic of Dutch communication seems to corroborate my views, that the

Art.

Dec. 15.

E. B.

Our correspondent E. B. has only to refer to Didron, a volume which the pul lishers of Current Notes could readily supply; to correct his erroneous supposition that the luminous fluid or flame-like Nimbus was a characteristic of executed in far distant ages, and Didron adverts to the the Dutch School. It is found in Hindoo representations adoption of certain anachronisms and erroneous applications by artists of more recent times, while his historical inquiries are supported by unquestionable objects of Archæology. The subject of the glory or Nimbus occupies in Didron, pp. 129-200; and his Christian Iconography is one of those works of authentic information that should find shelf room in every library in the world, either public or private.

M. Christ in 1750, noticed the Monogram I. A. V., but most erroneously ascribes it to Josse Ammon of Zurich. Brulliot, whose Dictionnaire des Monogrammes professes to embody all previously published articles in that subject, refers, Vol. II. p. 169, to Christ, simply to record the misappropriation by that writer. The monogram, however, remains unapplied.