C.W.G.

Boduc or Boduoc on British Coins.—­The real name of the heroic queen of the Iceni is very uncertain.  Walther (Tacitus, xiv.  Ann. c. 31.), adopts Boudicea.  It is probable enough that the syllables Boduo may have formed a part of it, as pronounced by the Britons.  We are reminded of Boduognatus, leader of the Nervii, mentioned by Caesar.  But to come nearer home, the name Boduogenus is found upon a bronze vessel discovered in the Isle of Ely, described by Mr. Goddard Johnson, Archaeologia, xxviii. p. 436.

C.W.G.

Lord Bacon’s Metrical Version of the Psalms.—­Lord Bacon’s translation of seven psalms, the 1st, 12th, 90th, 104th, 126th, 127th, and 149th, with a Dedication to George Herbert, is found at the end of the 2nd vol. of his works. (Lond. 1826.) They were printed at London, 1625, in quarto.

C.W.G.

  [To this we may add, on the information of X.X., that some account
  of these Psalms, with specimens, may be seen in Holland’s
  Psalmists of Britain, 1824.]

A “Gib” Cat.—­What is the etymology of the term “Gibbe,” as applied to the male cat?  I may observe that the g is pronounced hard in this locality, and not jibbe, as most dictionaries have it.

Burnley, Lancashire.

T.T.W.

[NARES has shown, very satisfactorily, that Gib, the contraction of Gilbert, was the name formerly applied to a cat, as Tom is now.  He states that Tibert (the name given to the Cat in the old Reynard the Fox) was the old French for Gilbert; and at all events, be that as it may, Chaucer, in his Romance of the Rose, verse 6204., translates “Thibert le Cas” by “Gibbe our Cat.”]

Lay of the Phoenix.—­“SELEUCUS” is informed that the Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Phoenix is contained in the Codex Exoniensis, edited by Mr. B. Thorpe.  The Latin poem, in hexameters and pentameters, attributed to Lactantius, is given at the foot of the page.  It will be found at the end of the works of Lactantius, in the small edition by Fritzsche (Lipsiae, 1842).  Fritzsche mentions two separate editions of the poem; 1. by Martini, Lunaeburgi, 1825; 2. by Leyser, Quedlinburgi, 1839.

C.W.G.

Lay of the Phoenix.—­“SELEUCUS” (No. 13, p. 203.) asks, “Is there any published edition of the hexameter poem by Lactantius, which is said to have suggested the idea of the Anglo-Saxon Lay of the Phoenix?” This poem is not in hexameter, but in elegiac verse; and though, on account of its brevity, we could not expect that it would have been separately published, it is to be found very commonly at the end of the works of Lactantius; for example, in three editions before me, Basil. 1524, Lugd. 1548, Basil. 1563.  That this poem, however, belongs to the Christian Cicero, at any period of his life, is more than doubtful, even by the admission of Romanists, who readily avail themselves of other compositions of similar authority.  It has been sometimes ascribed to Venantius Fortunatus, and is by Sirmondus attributed to Theodulphus, Bishop of Orleans. (Opp., ii. 840. cf. iv. 519.  Venet. 1728.)