he male cat? I may observe that the _g_ is pronounced
_hard_ in this locality, and not _jibbe_, as most dictionaries
have it.

Burnley, Lancashire.

T.T.W.

[NARES has shown, very satisfactorily, that _Gib_, the
contraction of _Gilbert_, was the name formerly applied to a
cat, as _Tom_ is now. He states that _Tibert_ (the name
given to the Cat in the old Reynard the Fox) was the old French for
_Gilbert_; and at all events, be that as it may, Chaucer, in
his _Romance of the Rose_, verse 6204., translates "Thibert le
Cas" by "Gibbe our Cat."]

_Lay of the Phoenix._--"SELEUCUS" is informed that the
Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Phoenix is contained in the _Codex
Exoniensis_, edited by Mr. B. Thorpe. The Latin poem, in
hexameters and pentameters, attributed to Lactantius, is given at
the foot of the page. It will be found at the end of the works of
Lactantius, in the small edition by Fritzsche (Lipsiae, 1842).
Fritzsche mentions two separate editions of the poem; 1. by Martini,
Lunaeburgi, 1825; 2. by Leyser, Quedlinburgi, 1839.

C.W.G.

_Lay of the Phoenix._--"SELEUCUS" (No. 13, p. 203.) asks, "Is
there any published edition of the hexameter poem by Lactantius,
which is said to have suggested the idea of the Anglo-Saxon _Lay
of the Phoenix_?" This poem is not in hexameter, but in elegiac
verse; and though, on account of its brevity, we could not expect
that it would have been separately published, it is to be found very
commonly at the end of the works of Lactantius; for example, in
three editions before me, Basil. 1524, Lugd. 1548, Basil. 1563. That
this poem, however, belongs to the Christian Cicero, at any period
of his life, is more than doubtful, even by the admission of
Romanists, who readily avail themselves of other compositions of
similar authority. It has been sometimes ascribed to Venantius
Fortunatus, and is by Sirmondus attributed to Theodulphus, Bishop of
Orleans. (_Opp._, ii. 840. cf. iv. 519. Venet. 1728.)

R.G.

_Ordination Pledges._--Your correspondent, "CLERICUS" (no. 10.
p. 156.), will find by far the most elaborate and judicious
examination of the import, design, and obligation of the various
oaths and subscriptions required of the clergy, in the successive
numbers of _The Christian Observer_ for 1849.

E.V.

_Feast of St, Michael and All-Angels._--The difficulty started
by "K.M.P." (No. 13, p. 203.), with regard to the double second
lessons for the Feast of St. Michael