Why must he say it _three_ times? Is this a superstition that can be traced in other countries than Germany? In Horace we have Diana thus addressed:
"_Ter_ vocata audis, adimisque letho, Diva triformis."--Lib. iii. Ode 22.
But she is there the benign Diana, not Hecate.
Are we to understand the passage to mean, that the number _three_ has a magical influence in summoning spirits; or to teach that the power of evil is so overruled by a higher Power, that he cannot approach to begin his work of temptation and ruin unless he be, not once merely, or twice, but _three_ times, called by the free will and act of the individual who is surrendering himself to his influence? The subject seems worthy of elucidation.
_Lady Anne Gray._--Who was the "Lady Anne Gray," or "Lady Gray," who was one of the attendants on Queen Elizabeth when princess, and is mentioned first in Sir John Harrington's poem in praise of her ladies?
_Continental Brasses._--At a recent meeting of the Archæological Institute, Mr. Nesbitt exhibited rubbings of some fine brasses at Bamberg, Naumberg, Meissen, and Erfurt. Mr. Nesbitt would confer a favour on the readers of "N. & Q." by stating the names and dates of those sepulchral memorials, and the churches from which he obtained the rubbings, and thus aid in carrying out MR. W. SPARROW SIMPSON'S excellent suggestion for obtaining a complete list of monumental brasses on the Continent.
_Peter Beaver._--In the early part of the last century, a gentleman named Peter Beaver, whose daughter was married in 1739 to Latham Blacker, Esq., of Rathescar, lived in the old and fashionable town of Drogheda. Can any one inform me as to the year of his death, and whether he left a son? The name has disappeared in Drogheda. I would likewise be glad to know the origin of the name; and, if it be a corruption of Beauvoir, at what time, and for what reason, was it changed? The crest is the animal of the same name.
_Cremonas._--Can any of your numerous correspondents kindly supply me with a list of the earliest and the latest of the instruments of each of the famous _cremona_ makers? Such a list would be a valuable contribution to "N. & Q."
Mr. Dubourg's work on the _Violin_, excellent as it is in many respects, contains but a meagre account of the instrument itself, and is sadly deficient on the subject of my Query. May I ask him, and I have reason for so doing, on what authority he gives 1664 as the year of the birth of Antonius Stradivarius, in his last edition?