glory
of the world) a great nobleman being taken prisoner, was freely
released with this farewell given him, that they desired but two
mastieffes for his ransome!"

Who was this great nobleman, and where may I find the fullest particulars
of the whole transaction?

H.C.

_When does Easter end_?--An enactment of the legislature directs a certain
act to be done "_within two months after Easter_" in 1850, under a penalty
for non-performance. I have no difficulty in finding that two calendar
months are meant, but am puzzled how to compute when they should commence.
I should be much obliged by being informed when Easter ends? that question
set at rest, the other part is easily understood and obeyed.

H. EDWARDS.

_Carucate of Land_.--Will any one inform me what were the dimensions of a
carucate of land, in Edward III.'s time? also, what was the comparative
value of money at the same date? Are Tables, giving the value of money at
various periods in our history, to be found in any readily accessible
source?

E.V.

_Members for Calais_.--Henry VIII. granted a representative in the English
parliament to the town of Calais. Can any of your correspondents inform me
whether this right was exercised till the loss of that town, and, if so,
who were the members?

O.P.Q.

_Members for Durham_.--What was the reason that neither the county nor the
city of Durham returned members to parliament previous to 1673-4?

O.P.Q.

_Leicester, and the reputed Poisoners of his Time_.--At page 315. vol. ii.
of D'Israeli's _Amenities of Literature_, London, 1840, is as follows:--

"We find strange persons in the Earl's household (Leicester).
Salvador, the Italian chemist, a confidential counsellor,
supposed to have departed from this world with many secrets,
succeeded by Dr. Julio, who risked the promotion. We are told of
the lady who had lost her hair and her nails," ... "of the
Cardinal Chatillon, who, after being closeted with the Queen,
returning to France, never got beyond Canterbury; of the sending
a casuist with a case of conscience to Walsingham, to satisfy
that statesman of the moral expediency of ridding the state of
the Queen of Scots by an Italian philtre."

Where may I turn for the above, more particularly for an account of the
lady who had lost her hair and her nails?

H.C.

April 9. 1850.

_Lord John Townshend's Poetical Works_.--Can any of your readers inform me