Notes and Queries, Number 46, September 14, 1850 | Page 7

and to have
threatened him with the loss of his head, which afterwards happened to
him thorough the fury of his enemies. At least I can think of no sense
so proper to be given to these verses in Lycidas." (p. vii.)
Perhaps some of your numerous correspondents will kindly inform me
of the meaning or meanings usually assigned to this passage.
JARLTZBERG.
_Sitting during the Lessons._--What is the origin of the congregation
remaining seated, while the first and second lessons are read, in the
church service? The rubric is silent on the subject; it merely directs that
the person who reads them shall stand:--
"He that readeth so standing and turning himself, as he may best be
heard of all such as are present."
With respect to the practice of sitting while the epistle is read, and of
standing while the gospel is read, in the communion service; there is in
the rubric a distinct direction that "all the people are to stand up" during
the latter, while it is silent as to the former. From the silence of the
rubric as to standing during the two lessons of the morning service, and
the epistle in the communion service, it seems to have been inferred
that the people were to sit. But why are they directed to stand during
the gospel in the communion service, while they sit during the second
lesson in the morning service?
L.
_Blew-Beer._--Sir, having taken a Note according to your very sound
advice, I addressed a letter to the John Bull newspaper, which was
published on Saturday, Feb. 16. It contained an extract from a political

tract, entitled,--
"The true History of Betty Ireland, with some Account of her Sister
Blanche of Brittain. Printed for J. Robinson, at the Golden Lion in
Ludgate Street, MDCCLIII. (1753)." {247}
In allusion to the English the following passage occurs,--
"But they forget, they are all so idle and debauched, such gobbling and
drinking rascals, and expensive in _blew-beer_," &c.
Query the unde derivatur of _blew-beer_, and if it is to be taken in the
same sense as the modern phrase of "blue ruin," and if so, the cause of
the change or history of both expressions?
H.
_Carpatio._--I have lately met with a large aquatinted engraving,
bearing the following descriptive title: "Angliæ Regis Legati
inspiciuntur Sponsam petentes Filiam Dionati Cornubiæ Regis pro
Anglo Principe." The costume of the figures is of the latter half of the
fifteenth century. The painter's name appears on a scroll, OP. VICTOR
CARPATIO VENETI. The copy of the picture for engraving was
drawn by Giovanni de Pian, and engraved by the same person and
Francesco Gallimberti, at Venice. I do not find the name of Carpatio in
the ordinary dictionaries of painters, and shall be glad to learn whether
he has here represented an historical event, or an incident of some
mediæval romance. I suspect the latter must be the case, as Cornubia is
the Latin word used for Cornwall, and I am not aware of its having any
other application. Is this print the only one of the kind, or is it one of a
set?
J.G.N.
_Value of Money in Reign of Charles II._--Will any of your
correspondents inform me of the value of 1000l. circa Charles II. in
present money, and the mode in which the difference is estimated?

DION X.
_Bishop Berkeley--Adventures of Gaudentio di Lucca._--I have a
volume containing the adventures of Signor Gaudentio di Lucca, with
his examination before the Inquisition of Bologna. In a bookseller's
catalogue I have seen it ascribed to Bishop Berkeley. Can any of your
readers inform me who was the author, or give me any particulars as to
the book?
IOTA.
_Cupid and Psyche._--Can any of your learned correspondents inform
me whether the fable of Cupid and Psyche was invented by Apuleius;
or whether he made use of a superstition then current, turning it, as it
suited his purpose, into the beautiful fable which has been handed
down to us as his composition?
W.M.
_Zünd-nadel Guns._--In paper of September or October last, I saw a
letter dated Berlin, Sept. 11, which commenced--
"We have had this morning a splendid military spectacle, and being the
first of the kind since the revolution, attracted immense crowds to the
scene of action."
"The Fusileer battalions (light infantry) were all armed with the new
zünd-nadel guns, the advantages and superiority of which over the
common percussion musket now admits of no contradiction, with the
sole exception of the facility of loading being an inducement to fire
somewhat too quick, when firing independently, as in battle, or when
acting en tirailleur. The invincible pedantry and amour-propre of our
armourers and inspectors of arms in England, their disinclination to
adopt inventions not of English growth, and their slowness to