--Would it not be desirable for some
correspondents of "N. & Q." to furnish information respecting grammars,
classics, and other works which have been written for the various public
schools? Such information might be useful to book collectors; and would
also serve to reflect credit on the schools whose learned masters have
prepared such books. My contribution to the list is small: but I remember a
valuable Greek grammar prepared by the Rev. ---- Hook, formerly head master
of the College School at Gloucester, for the use of that establishment; as
also a peculiar English grammar prepared by the Rev. R. S. Skillern, master
of St. Mary de Crypt School, in the same place, for the use of that school.
I also possess a copy (1640) of the _Romanae Historiae Anthologia_, for the
use of Abingdon School, and _Moses and Aaron, or the Rites and Customs of
the Hebrews_ (1641), both by Thos. Godwin, though the latter was written
after he ceased to be master of the schools.

P. H. FISHER.

Stroud.

"_To captivate._"--Moore, in his Journal, speaking of the Americans
(January 9th, 1819), says:

"They sometimes, I see, use the word _captivate_ thus: 'Five or six
ships captivated,' 'Five or six ships captivated.'"

Originally, the words _to captivate_ were synonymous with _to capture_, and
the expression was used with reference to warlike operations. To captivate
the affections was a secondary use of the phrase. The word is used in the
original sense in many old English books. It is not used so now in the
United States.

UNEDA.

Philadelphia.

_Bohn's Edition of Matthew of Westminster._--Under the year A.D. 782, the
translator informs us that "Hirenes and _his_ son Constantine became
emperors." Such an emperor is not to be found {9} in the annals of
Constantinople. If Mr. Yonge, who shows elsewhere that he has read Gibbon,
had referred to him on this occasion, he would probably have found that the
Empress Irene, a name dear to the reverencers of images, was the person
meant. The original Latin probably gives no clue to the sex; but still this
empress, who is considered as a saint by her church, notwithstanding the
deposition and blinding of her own son, was not a personage to be so easily
forgotten.

J. S. WARDEN.

_French Season Rhymes and Weather Rhymes.--_

"A la Saint-Antoine (17th January)
Les jours croissent le repas d'un moine."

"A la Saint-Barnabe (11th June)
La faux au pre."

"A la Sainte-Catherin