Westbury Court, which I noticed when a boy at school, in the
village of Westbury in this county. This mansion was taken down during the
minority of Maynard Colchester, Esq., the present owner of the estate.
Rudder, in his account of that parish, has preserved the inscription--

"D.
O. M.
N. M. M. H. E. P. N. C."

He reads the first three letters "Deo Optimo Maximo," and says the
subsequent line contains the initials of the following hexameter:

"Nunc mea, mox hujus, et postea nescio cujus,"

{130} alluding to the successive descent of property from one generation to
another.

Perhaps one of your readers may be enabled to tell me whether the above
line be original, or copied, and from whom.

P. H. FISHER.

Stroud.

The agreement referred to is no other than the famous treaty of peace
between Alfred and Guthrun, whose name, by the substitution of an initial
"L." for a "G.," among various other inaccuracies for which your
correspondent is perhaps not responsible, has been disguised under the form
of "Lvthrvnvs." The inscription itself forms the commencement of the
treaty, which is stated, in Turner's _Anglo-Saxons_, book iv. ch. v., to be
still extant. It is translated as follows, in Lambard's [Greek:
Archaionomia], p. 36.:--

"Foedus quod Aluredus & Gythrunus reges ex sapientum Anglorum, atque
eorum omnium qui orientalem incolebant Angliam consulto ferierunt, in
quod praeterea singuli non solum de se ipsis, verum etiam de natis suis,
ac nondum in lucem editis (quotquot saltem misericordiae divinae aut
regiae velint esse participes), jurarunt.

"Primo igitur ditionis nostrae fines ad Thamesim fluvium evehuntor: Inde
ad Leam flumen profecti, ad fontem ejus deferuntor: tum recta ad
Bedfordiam porriguntor, ac denique per Usam fluvium porrecti ad viam
Vetelingianam desinunto."

Another translation will be found in Wilkins's _Leges Anglo-Saxonicae_, p.
47., and the Saxon original in both. As to the boundaries here defined, see
note in Spelman's _Alfred_, p. 36.

At Cirencester Guthrun remained for twelve months after his baptism,
according to his treaty with Alfred. (See _Sim. Dunelm. de gestis Regum
Anglorum_, sub anno 879.)

J. F. M.

* * * * *

CURIOUS CUSTOM OF RINGING BELLS FOR THE DEAD.

(Vol. viii., p. 55.)

W. W., alluding to such a custom at Marshfield, Massachusets, asks "if this
custom ever did, or does