"It is with regret we add, that their teeth were at this time generally black and rotten, a defect which foreigners attributed to their inordinate love for sugar, but which may, perhaps, be quite as reasonably ascribed to their frequent habit of taking the Nicotian weed to excess."
Does the author mean to insinuate by the above, that the Elizabethan ladies indulged in the "filthy weed" by "smoaking" or "chewing?" I have always understood that the "Nicotian weed" _whitened_ the teeth rather than _blackened_ them, but should be glad to be enlightened upon the subject by some of your scientific readers.
154. _Covines_ (Vol. iii., p. 477.).--Remembering to have seen it stated by one of your correspondents, that witches or sorcerers were formerly divided into classes or companies of twelve, called _covines_, I should feel obliged by a reference to the authorities from which this statement is derived. They were not alleged at the time.
155. _Story referred to by Jeremy Taylor._--Jeremy Taylor (_Duct. Dubit._, book iii. chap. ii. rule 5. quæst. 2.) states:
"The Greek that denied the depositum of his friend, and offered to swear at the altar that he had restored it already, did not preserve his conscience and his oath by desiring his friend to hold the staff in which he had secretly conveyed the money. It is true, he delivered it into his hand, desiring that he would hold it till he had sworn; but that artifice was a plain cozenage, and it was prettily discovered. For the injured person, in indignation at the perjury, smote the staff upon the ground, and broke it, and espied the money."
156. _Plant in Texas._--I shall be glad to learn the scientific name of the plant to which the following extract from the _Athenæum_ (1847, p. 210.) refers:--
"It is a well-known fact that in the vast prairies of Texas a little plant is always to be found which, under all circumstances of climate, changes of weather, rain, frost, or sunshine, invariably turns its leaves and flowers to the north," &c.
157. _Discount._--Can any of your readers inform me how discount originated, and where first made use of?
158. _Sacre Cheveux._--The motto of the arms of the family of _Halifax_ of Chadacre in Suffolk, and of Lombard Street, is--