In Part II. of the _Guide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford_, at p. 178., is figured an impalement by _dimidiation_ existing at Stanton Harcourt, in the north transept of the church, in a brass on a piece of blue marble. The writer of the _Guide_ supposes this bearing to be some union of Harcourt and Beke, in consequence of a will of John Lord Beke, and to be commemorative of the son of Sir Richard Harcourt and Margaret Beke. It is in fact commemorative of those persons themselves. Harcourt, two bars, is dimidiated, and meets Beke, a cross moline or ancrée. The figure thus produced is a strange one, but perfectly intelligible when the practice of impaling by dimidiation is recollected. I know no modern instance of this method of impaling. I doubt if any can be found since the time of Henry VIII.
_Worth_ (Vol. vii., p. 584.).--At one time, and in one locality, this word seems to have denoted manure; as appears by the following preamble to the statute 7 Jac. I. cap. 18.:
"Whereas the sea-sand, by long triall and experience, hath bin found to be very profitable for the bettering of land, and especially for the increase of corne and tillage, within the counties of Devon and Cornwall, where the inhabitants have not commonly used any other _worth_, for the bettering of their arable grounds and pastures."
I am not aware of any other instance of the use of this word in this sense.
_"Elementa sex," &c._ (Vol. vii., p. 572.).--The answer to the Latin riddle propounded by your correspondent EFFIGY, seems to be the word _putres_; divided into _utres_, _tres_, _res_, _es_, and the letter _s_.
The allusion in _putres_ is to Virgil, _Georgic_, i. 392.; and in _utres_ probably to _Georgic_, ii. 384.: the rest is patent enough.
I send this response to save others from the trouble of seeking an answer, and being disappointed at their profitless labours. If I may venture a guess at its author, I should be inclined to ascribe it to some idle schoolboy, or perhaps schoolmaster, who deserved to be whipped for their pains.
_"A Diasii 'Salve'," &c._ (Vol. vii., p. 571.).--The deliverance desired in these words is from treachery, similar to that which was exhibited by the fratricide Alfonso Diaz toward his brother Juan. (Vid. Senarclæi _Historiam veram_, 1546; _Actiones et Monimenta Martyrum_, foll. 126-139. [Genevæ], 1560: _Histoire des Martyrs_, foll. 161-168., ed. 1597; M^cCrie's _Reformation in Spain_, pp. 181-188., Edinb. 1829.)