We may
say then, that, in all probability, the military technical term was
introduced in the third quarter of the sixteenth century. This, I
suspect, is too late to allow us to suppose that the vernacular force
which Shakspeare takes it to have, could have been gained for it by the
time he wrote.

The second edition was published in 1590; about this time the spelling
of the English language made a very rapid approach to its present form.
This is seen to a remarkable extent in the two editions of the
_Stratioticos_; in the first, the commanding officer of a regiment is
always _corronel_, in the second _collonel_. But the most striking
instance I now remember, is the following. In the first edition of
Robert Recorde's _Castle of Knowledge_ (1556) occurs the following
tetrastich:--

"If reasons reache transcende the skye,
Why shoulde it then to earthe be bounde?
The witte is wronged and leadde awrye,
If mynde be maried to the grounde."

In the second edition (1596) the above is spelt as we should now do it,
except in having _skie_ and _awrie_.

M.

_Prelates of France_ (Vol. ii., p. 182.).--In answer to a Minor Query of
P.C.S.S., I can inform him that I have in my possession, if it be of any
use to him, a manuscript entitled _Tableau de l'Ordre religieux en
France, avant et depuis l'Edit de 1768_, {253} containing the houses,
number of religions, and revenues, and the several dioceses in which
they were to be found.

M.

Midgham House, Newbury, Berks.

_Haberdasher_ (Vol. ii., p. 167.).--

"Haberdasher, a retailer of goods, a dealer in small wares; T.
_haubvertauscher_, from _haab_; B. _have_; It. _haveri_,
_haberi_, goods, wares; and _tauscher_, _vertauscher_, a dealer,
an exchanger; G. _tuiskar_; D. _tusker_; B. _tuischer_."

This derivation of the term _haberdasher_ is from _Thomson's Etymons_,
and seems to be satisfactory.

_Haberdascher_ was the name of a trade at least as early as the reign of
Edward III.; but it is not easy to decide what was the sort of trade or
business then carried on under that name. Any elucidation of that point
would be very acceptable.

D.

"_Rapido contrarius orbi_" (Vol. ii., p. 120.).--No answer having
appeared to the inquiry of N.B., it may be stated that, in Hartshorne's
_Book-Rarities of Cambridge_, mention is made of a painting, in Emanuel
College, of "Abp. Sancroft, sitting at a writing-table with arms, and
motto, _Rapido contrarius