e ruler of a certain province
to the governor of a neighbouring one, 'Pay me tribute, or else----;'
and the appropriate reply, 'I owe you none, and if----.'"

Not being of the totality reminiscent, may I beg for enlightenment? The
anecdote sounds well, and I am therefore curious to know who the governors
and what the provinces?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

"_A regular Turk._"--We often hear of people bad to manage being "regular
Turks." When did the phrase originate? Though not a journal for politics,
"N. & Q." will no doubt breathe a wish for the present sultan to be, in the
approaching warfare, "a regular Turk."

PRESTONIENSIS.

_Benjamin Rush._--I found the following in an old paper:

"Edinburgh, June 14, 1768. Yesterday Benjamin Rush, of the city of
Philadelphia, A. M., and Gustavus Richard Brown, of Maryland, were
admitted to the honour of a degree of Doctors of Physic, in the
university of this place, after having undergone the usual
examinations, both private and public. The former of whom was also
presented some time before with the freedom of this city."

The Benjamin Rush here referred to subsequently became quite eminent as a
physician. He took an active part in the struggle between the American
colonies and the mother country, and was one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence. One of his sons was the American minister to
London a few years since.

Can any of your readers inform me why the freedom of Edinburgh was
conferred upon him? In 1768 he could not have been over twenty-five years
of age.

INQUIRER.

_Per Centum Sign._--Will you kindly inform me why the symbol % means per
centum: viz. 5 %, 10 %, &c.?

JAMES MILLS.

_Burial Service Tradition._--About forty years ago, a young man hung
himself. When his body was taken to the church for interment, the clergymen
refused reading the burial service over him; his friends took him to
another parish, and the clergyman of that place refused also; they then
removed him to an adjoining one, and the clergyman received him and buried
him. The last clergyman said, if any friend of the deceased had cut off his
right hand, and laid it outside the coffin, no clergyman then could refuse
legally receiving and burying the corpse. Query, is this true?

May I ask your readers for an answer, as it will oblige many friends. The
above happened in Derbyshire.

S. ADAMS, Curate.

_Jean Bart's Descent on Newcastle._--I find