re in the church
porch at Verona which, from being in the same place with _Roland_, and
manifestly of the same age, he supposes may be _Oliver_, armed with a
spiked ball fastened by a chain to a staff of about three feet in
length. _Who are Roland and Oliver_? There is the following derivation
of the saying "a Roland for your Oliver," without any reference or
authority attached, in my note-book:--

"--Charlemagne, in his expedition against the Saracens, was
accompanied by two '_steeds_,' some writers say 'pages,' named
Roland and Oliver, who were so excellent and so equally matched,
that the equality became proverbial--'I'll give you a Roland for
your Oliver' being, the same as the vulgar saying, 'I'll give
you tit for tat,' i.e. 'I'll give you the same (whether in a
good or bad sense) as you give me.'"

JARLTZBERG.

* * * * *

QUERIES

THE STORY OF THE THREE MEN AND THEIR BAG OF MONEY.

Lord Campbell, in his _Lives of the Chancellors_, relates, in connection
with Queen Elizabeth's Lord Keeper Ellesmere, a very common story, of
which I am surprised he did not at once discern the falsehood. It is
that of a widow, who having a sum of money entrusted to her by three
men, which she was on no account to return except to the joint demand of
the three, is afterwards artfully persuaded by one of them to give it up
to him. Being afterwards sued by the other two, she is successfully
defended by a young lawyer, who puts in the plea that she is not bound
to give up the money at the demand of _only_ two of the parties. In this
case this ingenious gentleman is the future chancellor. The story is
told of the Attorney-General Noy, and of an Italian advocate, in the
notes to Rogers' _Italy_. It is likewise the subject of one of the
smaller tales in Lane's _Arabian Nights_; but here I must remark, that
the Eastern version is decidedly more ingenious than the later ones,
inasmuch as it exculpates the keeper of the deposit from the "laches" of
which in the other cases she was decidedly guilty. Three men enter a
bath, and entrust their bag of money to the keeper with the usual
conditions. While bathing, one feigns to go to ask for a comb (if I
remember right), but in reality demands the money. The keeper properly
refuses, when he calls out to his companions within, "He won't give it
me." They unwittingly respond, "Give it him," and he accordingly walks
off with the money.