l. i., pp. 216. 284.).--A letter about Dr. Dee from Mr.
Ballard to T. Hearne occurs in vol. ii. p. 89. It does not throw light
on the question of why Dr. Dee left Manchester College? There are also
notes for a life of Dee among Aubrey's _Lives_, appended to these
_Letters_ (vol. ii. p. 310.) Both letters and notes refer to original
sources of information for Dee's Life.

CH.

* * * * *

MINOR NOTES.

_Alarm_.--A man is indicted for striking at the Queen, with intent
(among other things) to _alarm_ her Majesty. It turns out that the very
judge has forgotten the legal (which is also the military) meaning of
the word. An alarm is originally the signal to arm: Query, Is it not
formed from the cry _a l'arme_, which in modern times is _aux armes_?
The judge said that from the courage of her family, most likely the
Queen was not alarmed, meaning, not frightened. But the illegal intent
to alarm merely means the intent to make another think that it is
necessary to take measures of defence or protection. When an _alarm_ is
sounded, the soldier who is _not_ alarmed is the one who would be held
to be frightened.

M.

_Taking a Wife on Trial_.--The following note was made upon reading _The
Historical and Genealogical Account of the Clan of Maclean_, by a
Seneachie, published by Smith, Elder, and Co., London, 1838. It may be
thought worthy of a corner amongst the Notes on Folk Lore, which form so
curious and entertaining a portion of the "NOTES AND QUERIES."

In the beginning of the year 1608 a commission, consisting of the
Archbishop of Glasgow, the Bishop of the Isles (Andrew Knox), Andrew
Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, and Sir James Hay of Kingask, proceeded to the
Isles with power to summon the chiefs to a conference, for the purpose
of intimating to them the measures in contemplation by the government. A
meeting for this purpose was held at Aross Castle, one of the seats of
Maclean, in Mull, at which the principal barons and heads of houses
attended.

The regulations contemplated had for their object the introduction of an
additional number of pious divines, who were to be provided for out of
the lands of the great island proprietors; the abolishing a certain
remarkable custom which till then prevailed, namely, that of taking a
wife on approbation, or, in plain intelligible terms, _on trial_!

The following are two examples recorded of this singular custom.

John Mac-Vic Ewen, fourth laird