Notes and Queries, Number 38, July 20, 1850 | Page 8

one of those epistles which the Celtic people were wont to send to their friends in the other world. The reader may divert himself with trying to explain it."
Has this inscription ever been explained, and how? Stukeley's book is by no means a rare one; therefore I have not trusted myself to copy the inscription: and such as feel disposed to help me in my difficulty would doubtless prefer seeing the Doctor's own illustration at p. 31.
Henry Cunliffe.
Hyde Park Street.{120}
ATHELSTANE'S FORM OF DONATION.--MEANING OF "SOMAGIA."
Tristram Risdon, in his quaint _Survey of the Co. of Devon_, after mentioning the foundation of the church of High Bickington by King Athelstane,
"Who," he says, "gave to God and it one hide of land, as appeareth by the donation, a copy whereof, for the antiquity thereof, I will here insert: 'Iche Athelstane king, grome of this home, geve and graunt to the preist of this chirch, one yoke of mye land frelith to holde, woode in my holt house to buyld, bitt grass for all hys beasts, fuel for hys hearth, pannage for hys sowe and piggs, world without end,'"--
adds presently afterwards, that
"Sir John Willington gave Weeksland in this tything, unto Robert Tolla, _cum 40 somagia annuatim capiend in Buckenholt_ (so be the words of the grant) in the time of K. Edw. I."
The Willingtons were lords of the manor of Umberleigh, where Athelstane's palace stood, with its chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity, formerly rich in ancient monuments, and having a chantry near to it. Some of the monuments from this chapel are still preserved in the neighbouring church of Atherington.
My Queries upon this Note are:
1. Whence did Risdon derive his copy of King Athelstane's form of donation? 2. What is the precise meaning of the word _Somagia_?
In Ducange (ed. Par. 1726, tom. vi. col. 589.) I find:
"Somegia. Pr?statio, ut videtur _ex summis_, v. gr. bladi, frumenti. Charta Philippi Reg. Franc. an. 1210. Idem etiam Savaricus detinet sibi census suos, et venditiones, et quosdam reditus, qui _Somegi?_ vocantur, et avenam, et captagia hominum et foeminarum suarum, qui reditus cum una Somegiarum in festo B. Remigii persolverentur; deinde secunda Somegia in vicesima die Natalis Domini, et tertia in Octabis Resurrectionis Dominic?, ei similiter persolventur; caponum etiam suorum in crastino Natalis Domini percipiet solutionem: unaqu?que vero somegiarum quatuor denarios bon? monet? valet."
Ducange refers also to some kindred words; but, instead of clearing up my difficulty in the word _somagia_, he presents me with another in _captagia_, the meaning of which I do not clearly understand. Perhaps some of your more learned contributors will obligingly help me to the true import of these words?
J. Sansom.
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
Charade.--Can any one tell who is the author of the following charade? No doubt, the lines are well known to many of your readers, although I have never seen them in print. It has been said that Dr. Robinson, a physician, wrote them. It strikes me that the real author, whoever he be, richly deserves to be named in "Notes and Queries."
"Me, the contented man desires, The poor man has, the rich requires; The miser gives, the spendthrift saves, And all must carry to their graves."
It can scarcely be necessary to add that the answer is, nothing.
Alfred Gatty.
July 1. 1850.
"Smoke Money."--Under this name is collected every year at Battle, in Sussex, by the Constable, one penny from every householder, and paid to the Lord of the Manor. What is its origin and meaning?
B.
"Rapido contrarius orbi."--What divine of the seventeenth century adopted these words as his motto? They are part of a line in one of Owen's epigrams.
N.B.
Lord Richard Christophilus.--Can any of your readers give any account of Lord Richard Christophilus, a Turk converted to Christianity, to whom, immediately after the Restoration, in July, 1660, the Privy Council appointed a pension of 50l. a-year, and an additional allowance of 2l. a-week.
CH.
_Fiz-gigs_.--In those excellent poems, Sandys's _Paraphrases on Job and other Books of the Bible_, there is a word of a most destructive character to the effect. Speaking of leviathan, he asks,
"Canst thou with _fiz-gigs_ pierce him to the quick?"
It may be an ignorant question, but I do not know what fiz-gigs are.
C.B.
Specimens of Erica in Bloom.--Can any of your correspondents oblige me by the information where I can procure specimens in bloom of the following plants, viz. Erica crescenta, Erica paperina, E. purpurea, E. flammea, and at what season they come into blossom in England? If specimens are not procurable without much expense and trouble, can you supply me with the name of a work in which these plants are figured?
E.S.
Dover.
_Michael Scott, the Wizard_.--What works by Michael Scott, the reputed wizard, (Sir Walter's Deus ex Machina in _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_), have been printed?
X.Y.A.
Stone Chalices.--Can any of the readers of "Notes and Queries" inform me whether the