erse of Lucan referred to is in lib. v. l.238.:

"Victrices _aquilas_ alium laturus in orbem."

Query, Is the medal referred to by Voltaire known to exist? and if so, is
the substitution of the unmetrical and prosaic word _copias_ due to the
author of the medal, or to Voltaire himself?

L.

_National Debt._--What volumes, pamphlets, or paragraphs can be pointed out
to the writer, in poetry or prose, alluding to the bribery, corruption, and
abuses connected with the formation of the National Debt from 1698 to 1815?

F.H.B.

_Midwives licensed._--In the articles to be inquired into in the province
of Canterbury, anno 1571 (_Grindal Rem._, Park. Soc. 174-58), inquiry to be
made

"Whether any use charms, or unlawful prayers, or invocations, in Latin
or otherwise, and _namely, midwives in the time of women's travail of
child_."

In the oath taken by Eleanor Pead before being licensed by the Archbishop
to be a midwife a similar clause occurs; the words, "Also, I will not use
any kind of sorcery or incantations in the time of the travail of any
woman." Can any of your readers inform me what charms or prayers are here
referred to, and at what period midwives ceased to be licensed by the
Archbishop, or if any traces of such license are still found in Roman
Catholic countries?

S.P.H.T.

* * * * * {409}

REPLIES.

THE BLACK ROOD OF SCOTLAND.

(Vol. ii., p. 308.)

I am not aware of any record in which mention of this relique occurs before
the time of St. Margaret. It seems very probable that the venerated
crucifix which was so termed was one of the treasures which descended with
the crown of the Anglo-Saxon kings. When the princess Margaret, with her
brother Edgar, the lawful heir to the throne of St. Edward the Confessor,
fled into Scotland, after the victory of William, she carried this cross
with her amongst her other treasures. Aelred of Rievaulx (ap. Twysd. 350.)
gives a reason why it was so highly valued, and some description of the
rood itself:

"Est autem crux illa longitudinem habens palmae de auro purissimo
mirabili opere fabricats, quae in modum techae clauditur et aperitur.
Cernitur in ea quaedarn Dominicae crucis portio, (sicut saepe multorum
miraculorum argumento probatum est). Salvatoris nostri ymaginem habens
de ebore densissime sculptam et aureis distinctionibus mirabiliter
decoratam."

St. Margaret appears to have destine