Notes and Queries, Number 14, February 2, 1850 | Page 2

defective
reprint in England; but his sagacity prevented him from falling into
some of the blunders, although it could not supply him with the
wanting line; and his notes are extremely clear and pertinent. I shall not
go over the thirty-nine other errors; but I shall just quote the passage as

it stands in the (as far as I know) unique copy, now deposited at
Devonshire House, and supply in italics the necessary line. It occurs in
a speech by the Pardoner, near the end, where he is praising one of his
relics:-- {210}
"I wyll edefy more, with the syght of it Than wyll all the pratynge of
holy wryt; For that except that the precher, hym selfe lyue well, His
predycacyon wyll helpe neuer a dell, And I know well, that thy lyuynge
is nought: _Thou art an apostata, yf it were well sought_, An homycyde
thou art I know well inoughe," &c.
The line omitted is the more remarkable, because it contains an
instance of the employment of a word very old in our language, and in
use in the best periods of our prose and poetry: "apostata" is explained
in the _Promptorium_, is found in Skelton and Heywood, and so down
to the time of Massinger, who was especially fond of it.
How many copies were issued of Smeeton's reprint of _The Pardoner
and the Frere_, I know not; but any of your readers, who chance to
possess it, will do well to add the absent line in the margin, so that the
mistake may be both rectified and recorded. I was not aware of Mr.
Child's intention to re-publish the interlude in the United States, or I
would long ago have sent him the correction, as indeed I did, a day or
two after I received his volume. It was, nevertheless, somewhat
ungracious to thank him for his book, and at the same time to point out
an important error in it, for which, however, he was in no way
responsible.
J. PAYNE COLLIER.
Kensington, Jan. 28. 1850.
* * * * *
CATACOMBS AND BONE-HOUSES.
Without attempting to answer the queries of MR. GATTY, (No. 11. p.
171.) I venture to send a note on the subject. I believe it will generally
be found that the local tradition makes such collections of bones to be
"the grisly gleanings of some battlefield." One of the most noteworthy
collections of this kind that I have seen is contained in the crypt of
Hythe Church, Kent, where a vast quantity of bones are piled up with
great regularity, and preserved with much care. According to a written
statement suspended in the crypt, they are the relics of Britons and
Saxons slain in a battle fought on the beach in the sixth century; the

local tradition is nearly to the same effect, but of course is of little
value, as it has most likely arisen from or been conformed to this
"written chronicle;" both writing and tradition must indeed be regarded
with distrust. It is affirmed in the neighbourhood that the bones were
dug up from the beach; but I, at least, could hear of no tradition as to
the period when they were exhumed. Perhaps some resident will
ascertain whether any such exists.
The bones have all the appearance of considerable antiquity; yet they
are in excellent preservation. The skulls are remarkably white and
perfect, and are altogether a very curious collection, differing greatly in
size, form, and thickness. The holes and fractures in many of them
(made evidently during life) leave no doubt that they belonged to
persons who met with a violent death.
I will not pretend to reply to the concluding queries of your
correspondent, but I would just remark that, from what we know of the
feeling of our ancestors respecting the remains of the dead, it appears
probably that if from any cause a large quantity of human bones were
found, or were from any cause obliged to be disturbed, some
ecclesiastic or pious layman would take measures to have them
removed to some consecrated spot where they might be safe from
further molestation. They would hardly be treated in any such manner
as Dr. Mantell states the bones removed by the railway engineers from
the Priory ground at Lewes were treated. I remain, sir, your very
obedient servant,
J.T.
Syndenham, Jan. 21. 1850.
* * * * *
LINES ATTRIBUTED TO HUDIBRAS.
Perhaps the following extract from a volume entitled _The Relics of
Literature_, published by Boys and Co., Ludgate Hill, 1820, may prove
interesting, as further illustrating the so frequently disputed passage
which forms the subject matter of your first article in No. 12.:--
"Few popular quotations have more engaged the pens of critics than the
following:--
'For he that fights and