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

of that tablet of tin, which
was found at this place (Stonehenge) in the time of King Henry VIII.,
inscribed with many letters, but in so strange a character that neither Sir
Thomas Elliott, a learned antiquary, nor Mr. Lilly, master of St. Paul's
school, could make any thing out of it. Mr. Sammes may be right, who
judges it to have been Punic. I imagine if we call it Irish we shall not
err much. No doubt but what it was a memorial of the founders, wrote
by the Druids and had it been preserved till now, would have been an
invaluable curiosity."
Can you or any of your contributors give me any further information
about this inscription?
2. The Doctor continues,
"To make the reader some amends for such a loss I have given a
specimen of supposed Druid writing, out of Lambecius' account of the
Emperor's library at Vienna. 'Tis wrote on a very thin plate of gold with
a sharp-pointed instrument. It was in an urn found at Vienna, rolled up
in several cases of other metal, together with funeral exuviæ. It was
thought by the curious, 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. Præstatio, 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 _Somegiæ_
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 Dominicæ, ei similiter persolventur; caponum
etiam suorum in crastino Natalis Domini percipiet solutionem:
unaquæque vero somegiarum quatuor denarios bonæ monetæ 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