mediatem unius quadrantate, et redditum duarum sarcellarum, ac tercie partis unius sarcelle, unius galline et dimid. et quindecim ovorum exeunt, de diversis tenementis in insula de Herteye." Sarcelle is the term to which Mr. D. objects, because the only sense of sarcellus and sercellus in the Glossaries is the sign of an hoop indicating that wine is sold at the hoop where it hangs out;" an interpretation certainly it will not bear here.-The word is, however, incorrectly copied, it ought to be cercelle, not with an s, but a c, as it is spelt in the English instrument of Mortmayne, given a few lines above; and according to Somner* cercella is derived " from the French cercelle," and signifies "the water wild fowl, denominated by us a Teale," of which birds there probably was always an abundance in Hertye island. Two teale, and the third part of another, was a whimsical kind of reddend', and if delivered in kind, with exactness, would require the hand of a dexterous carver. But this is not the only curious article in the rent of this estate, for there was to be paid in money four shillings and sixpence and half a farthing. As there never was, I have a notion, any such diminutive piece of coin [in England] the splitting of a farthing may be inferred to have been literally a practice in the 16th century. Historians inform us that our ancestors were wont easily to divide silver pennies into halves and quarters, by means of the double cross stamped on the reverse, and to pay or distribute the fragments in lieu of halfpence and farthings. To prevent such clipping and defacing, it was ordered by King Henry III. that no coin should pass current which was not round; and his son absolutely prohibited the use of broken money. The following are some of the verses made upon this regulation of Edward I. They are printed in Spelman's Glossary, ad verb. Denarius, from Stow's Annals, p. 506. "EDWARD did smite round, peny, half-peny, farthing, The cross passes the bond of all throughout the ring. The poor man, ne to Priest, the peny fraises nothing. Men give God aye the least, they feast him with a farthing * Glossar. ad fin. X. Script. In a deed inserted in the Appendix to the Treatise on Gavelkind by Somner, it is mentioned that the prior and the convent of Christ Church, Canterbury, were to have yearly, at Christmas, from one of their tenants, "Unum mathlardum, et unum annatem, et qua, tuor cercellas," p. 123. "A French denier" says Chamberlain, "is equal to of a farthing sterling." Evir. Without a violation of the law, the poor people in Herbaldown hospital must have been deprived of the regular payment of half the least part of the rent that was due to -them. 1784, March. W. and D. XCIX. Cross Bows. MR. URBAN, Litchfield, April 19. FROM your readiness to oblige your correspondents, I make not the least doubt but you will give the following account of the Cross-bow, a place in your useful Repository; especially when I inform you, it was transmitted to me by the very worthy and ingenious Mr. Grose, who, I hope, will not be offended at seeing it in print, as I think it is too valuable to be with-held from the public. RICH. GREENE. "With respect to the Cross-bow, it is a very ancient weapon. Verstegan says, it was introduced here by the Saxons, but was neglected till again brought into use by William the Conqueror, at the battle of Hastings. Crossbows were afterwards prohibited by the second Lateran Council, anno 1139, as hateful to God, and unfit to be used among Christians; in consequence whereof they were laid aside till the reign of Richard the First, who again introduced them, and was himself killed by an arrow or quarrel, discharged from a cross-bow at the siege of the Castle of Chalus, which was considered as a judgment on his impiety. "Cross-bows shot darts called quarrels or quarreaux; they were headed with solid square pyramids of iron, and sometimes trimmed with brass instead of feathers*. "Cross-bows were used by the English, in their expedi tion to the Isle of Rhee, anno 1627. "There was an officer stiled Balistrarius Regis; and several estates were held by the service of delivering a crossbow, and thread to make the string, when the king passed through certain districts. These you will find in Blount's Tenures, and Jacob's Law Dictionary. *The arrow-heads which have been found in Bosworth field are remarkably large and long. EDIT. "The cross-bow makers used to exercise themselves in shooting at the popinjay, or artificial parrot, in a field called Tassal Close in London, from the number of thistles growing there, now called the Old Artillery Ground. Maitland's History. "According to Sir John Smith, a cross-bow would kill point blank 60 yards, and if elevated, above 160. "The pay of a cross-bow man, temp. Edward II. was six-pence. "King Henry VIII. to preserve the manly exercise of archery, instituted a company of archers, called the Fraternity of St. George, who were authorised to shoot with long and cross-bows at all manner of marks, and in case any one was slain by arrows shot by these archers, if it was proved the party who shot the arrow had first given the word Fast, he was not liable to be sued or molested. Chamberlain's History of London. "So much for the cross-bow, of which you will find many particulars in our ancient Chronicles, particularly Froissart." 1784, April. C. Particulars respecting the first Coffee House in England. MR, URBAN, I HERE send you some historic matter respecting the use of coffee, tea, and chocolate in this kingdom. Little could our ancestors of two centuries back suppose that their descendants would be reduced to the necessity of sending to the East and West Indies for the materials for a comfortable breakfast. There is a gradation in customs, which often originates from individuals. Tradition ascribes the smoaking of tobacco to Sir Walter Raleigh. It is observed by Ant. a Wood (Ath. Oxon. II. 1140,) that while Nathaniel Conopius, a Cretan born, continued in Balliol College in Oxford, which he left in 1648, he made the drink for his own use called coffee, and usually drank it every morning, being the first, as the ancients of that house informed him, that was ever drunk in Oxon. In the year 1650, we learn from the same author (Life, 8vo. v. Index,) "Jacob a Jew opened a coffey-house at the Angel in the parish of St. Peter in the East, Oxon, and there it was by some, who delighted in noveltie, drank. In 1654, Cirques Jobson, a Jew and Jacobite, borne near Mount-Libanus, sold coffey in Oxon; and in 1655, Arth. Tillyard, apothecary, sold coffey publicly in his house against All Soules Coll. This coffeyhouse continued till his majesties returne and after, and then they became more frequent, and had an excise set upon coffey." The author of the "New View of London" (1708, p. 30.) found it recorded, "that one James Farr, a barber, who kept the coffee-house which is now the Rainbow, by the Inner Temple Gate (one of the first in England), was in the year 1657 presented by the inquest of St. Dunstan's in the West, for making and selling a sort of liquor called coffee, as a great nuisance and prejudice of the neighbourhood, &c. And who could then have thought London would ever have had near 3000 such nuisances, and that coffee would have been (as now, 1708) so much drunk by the best of quality and physicians!" The frequency of coffee-houses at and soon after the Restoration is apparent from several authorities. In the "Kingdom's Intelligencer,' a weekly paper, published by authority, in 1662, are inserted four advertisements of these articles, of which I have selected the last as being the fullest; which is the paper from Monday Dec. 22, to Dec. 29, 1662. "At the coffee-house in Exchange-alley, is sold by retail the right coffee-powder from 4 to 6s. 8d. per pound, as in goodness; that pounded in a morter at 2s. 6d. per pound; also that termed the East India berry at 18d. per pound; and that termed the right Turkie berry well garbled at 3s. per pound, the ungarbled for lesse, with directions gratis how to make and use the same: likewise there you may have chocolatta, the ordinary pound boxes at 2s. 6d. per pound, the perfumed from 4 to 10s. per pound; also sherbets made in Turkie of lemons, roses, and violets perfumed; and tea according to its goodness. For all which, if any gentlemen shall write or send, they shall be sure of the best as they shall order, and to avoid deceit, warranted under the house seal, viz. Morat the Great, &c. Further, all gentlemen that are customers and acquaintance are (the next New-year's day) invited at the signe of the Great Turk at the new coffee-house in Exchange-alley, where coffee will be on free-cost." And so may be to the world's end, was added in the preceding of Dec. 20. In the two former of Aug. 4, and Oct. 13, the terms are, "tea or chaa, according to its goodness;" unluckily no price is any where mentioned to this article; in the others it considerably varies. Coffee in the first advertisement was from 2s. 6d. to 5s. In the second the same, a better sort at 4s. and the best of all at 6s. per pound. The right Turkey berry at 2s. 8d. The India berry, sweet and good, at 18d. per pound, of which at present in divers places there is musty, bad, which the ignorant for cheapness do buy, and is the cause of such bad coffee as is drunk in divers places. Chocolatta, in the first, pound boxes at 2s. the perfumed at 4s. 6s. 10s. 16s. and the very best at 20s. per pound. In the second, the perfumed at 4s. to 10s. per pound. In the last, coffee rose 8d. higher than in the preceding week. In the year 1665 appeared in 4to. a facetious poem, with the title of "The Character of a Coffee-house: Wherein is contained a description of the persons usually frequenting it, with their discourse and humours: as also the admirable vertues of coffee. By an Eye and Ear-witness" It begins: A Coffee-house, the learned hold It is a place where Coffee's sold; For where Ale's vended that's an Alehouse. The author mentions the signs, the Great Morat, the Sultan, Sultaness: John's admir'd curled pate, Or the great Mogul in's chair of state. Who fourteen years was th' onely man Fill'd from a Turkish pot, hung up He then proceeds to the company, and the several liquors: The Gallant he for Tea doth call, The Usurer for nought at all; Pragmatic he doth intreat, That they will fill him some Beau-cheat; The Virtuoso he cries hand me, Some Coffee mixt with Sugar-candy; Phanaticus (at last) says, come, |