his own
name, which to this hour BRITANNICUS never did.' In the next number of
Needham, who had always written it _Brittanicus_, the correction was
silently adopted."

A similar error occurs on the shilling and six-penny pieces of George III.,
circa 1817 (those {276} most frequently met with in the present
circulation), whilst the cotemporary crowns and half-crowns have the
correct orthography.

R. W. C.

_Honeymoon._--Among my memoranda I find that, on January 31, 1845, an
accomplished Welsh lady said to me, that the common expression "Honeymoon"
was "probably derived from the old practice in Wales of drinking
_metheglin_ for thirty days after the marriage of a bride and bridegroom. A
_metheglin_ jollification for thirty days among the relatives and friends
of the newly married pair." The _metheglin_ is a fermented liquor, of some
potency, made from honey. The lady asked me, at the same time, if _honey_
was used by the ancient Greeks or Romans in the preparation of a fermented
liquor. I said that I recollected no such use of honey among them, but that
the ancient Greeks seemed to have brewed a _beer_ of some kind from barley
or other grain, as allusion was made to it by Aristophanes. Perhaps this
notice of the "honeymoon" may draw forth some information from your
correspondents who are learned in "folk lore." In the Old Testament there
are many passages alluding to the use of honey, but none of them appear to
indicate its having been employed in making a fermented beverage. Lucretius
alludes to the practice of enticing children to swallow disagreeable
medicine by anointing the edge of the cup with honey.

G. F. G.

Edinburgh.

_Fees at Westminster Abbey._--The custom of taking fees at Westminster
Abbey is of very ancient date, and was always unpopular. Shirley alludes to
it in his pleasant comedy called _The Bird in a Cage_, when Bonomico, a
mountebank, observes--

"I talk as glib,
Methinks, as he that _farms the monuments_."

The dean and chapter, however, in those days were more moderate in their
demands, for the price of admission was but one penny to the whole.

"This grant was made to the chapter in 1597, on condition that,
receiving the benefit of the exhibition of the monuments, they should
keep the same monuments always clean," &c.--See _Reply from the Dean
and Chapter to an Order of the House of Commons_, 1827.

BLOWEN.

_Turning the Tables._--In B