Notes and Queries, Number 39, July 27, 1850 | Page 5

you tit for tat,' i.e. 'I'll
give you the same (whether in a good or bad sense) as you give me.'"
JARLTZBERG.
* * * * *
QUERIES
THE STORY OF THE THREE MEN AND THEIR BAG OF
MONEY.
Lord Campbell, in his _Lives of the Chancellors_, relates, in
connection with Queen Elizabeth's Lord Keeper Ellesmere, a very

common story, of which I am surprised he did not at once discern the
falsehood. It is that of a widow, who having a sum of money entrusted
to her by three men, which she was on no account to return except to
the joint demand of the three, is afterwards artfully persuaded by one of
them to give it up to him. Being afterwards sued by the other two, she
is successfully defended by a young lawyer, who puts in the plea that
she is not bound to give up the money at the demand of only two of the
parties. In this case this ingenious gentleman is the future chancellor.
The story is told of the Attorney-General Noy, and of an Italian
advocate, in the notes to Rogers' Italy. It is likewise the subject of one
of the smaller tales in Lane's _Arabian Nights_; but here I must remark,
that the Eastern version is decidedly more ingenious than the later ones,
inasmuch as it exculpates the keeper of the deposit from the "laches" of
which in the other cases she was decidedly guilty. Three men enter a
bath, and entrust their bag of money to the keeper with the usual
conditions. While bathing, one feigns to go to ask for a comb (if I
remember right), but in reality demands the money. The keeper
properly refuses, when he calls out to his companions within, "He won't
give it me." They unwittingly respond, "Give it him," and he
accordingly walks off with the money. I think your readers will agree
with me that the tale has suffered considerably in its progress
westward.
My object in troubling you with this, is to ask {133} whether any of
your subscribers can furnish me with any other versions of this popular
story, either Oriental or otherwise.
BRACKLEY.
Putney, July 17.
* * * * *
THE GEOMETRICAL FOOT.
In several different places I have discussed the existence and length of
what the mathematicians of the sixteenth century _used_, and those of
the seventeenth _talked about_, under the name of the _geometrical

foot_, of four palms and sixteen digits. (See the Philosophical
Magazine from December 1841 to May 1842; the _Penny Cyclopædia_,
"Weights and Measures," pp. 197, 198; and _Arthmetical Books_, &c,
pp. 5-9.) Various works give a figured length of this foot, whole, or in
halves, according as the page will permit; usually making it (before the
shrinking of the paper is allowed for) a very little less than 9-3/4 inches
English. The works in which I have as yet found it are Reisch,
_Margarita Philosophica_, 1508; Stöffler's _Elucidatio Astrolabii_,
1524; Fernel's _Monolosphærium_, 1526; Köbel, _Astrolabii
Declaratio_, 1552; Ramus, _Geometricæ_, 1621. Query. In what other
works of the sixteenth, or early in the seventeenth century is this foot of
palms and digits to be found, figured in length? What are their titles?
What the several lengths of the foot, half foot, or palm, within the
twentieth of an inch? Are the divisions into palms or digits given; and,
if so, are they accurate subdivisions? Of the six names above
mentioned, the three who are by far the best known are Stöffler, Fernel,
and Ramus; and it so happens that their subdivisions are much more
correct than those of the other three, and their whole lengths more
accordant.
A. DE. MORGAN.
* * * * *
Minor Queries
_Plurima Gemma._--Who is the author of the couplet which seems to
be a version of Gray's
"Full many a gem of purest ray serene," &c.?
"Plurima gemma latet cæca tellure sepulta, Plurima neglecto fragrat
odore rosa."
S.W.S.
_Emmote de Hastings._--

"EMMOTE DE HASTINGS GIST ICI" &C.
A very early slab with the above inscription was found in 1826 on the
site of a demolished transept of Bitton Church, Gloucester. By its side
was laid an incised slab of ---- De Bitton. Both are noticed in the
_Archæologia_, vols. xxii. and xxxi.
Hitherto, after diligent search, no notice whatever has been discovered
of the said person. The supposition is that she was either a Miss De
Bitton married to a Hastings, or the widow of a Hastings married
secondly to a De Bitton, and therefore buried with that family, in the
twelfth or thirteenth century. If any antiquarian digger should discover
any mention of the lady, a communication to that effect will be
thankfully received by
H.T. ELLACOMBE.
Bitton.
_Boozy Grass._--What is the derivation of "boozy grass," which an
outgoing tenant