B.

Pilgrimage of Kings, &c.—­Blind Man’s Buff—­Muffin—­Hundred Weight, &c.—­ 1.  Can your readers oblige me with the name of the author and the date of a work entitled The Pilgrimage of Kings and Princes, of which I possess an imperfect copy—­a small quarto? 2.  What is the etymology of the game Blind Man’s Buff? I am led to doubt whether that was the old spelling of it, for in a catalogue now before me I find a quarto work by Martin Parker, entitled The Poet’s Blind Man’s Bough, or Have among you my Blind Harpers, 1641. 3.  What is the origin of the word muffin? It is not in Johnson’s Dictionary. Perhaps this sort of tea-cake was not known in his day. 4.  By what logic do we call one hundred and twelve pounds merely a hundred weight? 5.  I shall feel still more obliged if your readers can inform me of any works on natural history, particularly adapted for a literary man to refer to at times when poetical, mythological, scriptural, and historical associations connected with animals and plants are in question.  I am constantly feeling the want of a work of the kind to comprehend zoological similes and allusions, and also notices of customs and superstitions connected with animals, when reading our old poets and chroniclers.  Even the most celebrated zoological works are of no use to me in such inquiries.

STEPHEN BEAUCHAMP.

Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham.—­Having employed my leisure for many years in collecting materials for the biography of the famous Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, I am baffled by the conflicting and contradictory accounts of,—­(1.) The title by which he became possessed of the Vesci estates; (2.) When and by what authority he took upon him the title of “King of the Isle of Man;” and (3.) How he became dispossessed of that title, which it is well known that Edward II. bestowed upon Gaveston; and whether that circumstance did not induce him to take part with the confederate barons who eventually destroyed that favourite.

Other incongruities occur in my researches, but the above are the most difficult of solution.

I am, dear Sir,

ONE THAT INTENDS TO BE A REGULAR SUBSCRIBER TO THE “NOTES AND QUERIES.”

Curious Welsh Custom.—­A custom prevails in Wales of carrying about at Christmas time a horse’s skull dressed up with ribbons, and supported on a pole by a man who is concealed under a large white cloth.  There is a contrivance for opening and shutting the jaws, and the figure pursues and bites every body it can lay hold of, and does not release them except on payment of a fine.  It is generally accompanied by some men dressed up in a grotesque manner, who, on reaching a house, sing some extempore verses requesting admittance, and are in turn answered by those within, until one party or the other is at a loss for a reply.  The Welsh are undoubtedly a poetical people, and these verses often display