“That part of the more ancient building, which was left by both
     unaltered, is included in the following concise description by an
     ingenious writer, who visited it in 1722:—­

        ’AEdes in culmine montis sitae, scilicet,
                                [Greek:  aipeia kolonen
        En pedio apaneuthe, peridromos entha kai entha]’

aditu difficilis circa montem; cujus latera omnia horti 50 acrarum circumeunt, nisi versus Aquilonem, quo ascenditur ad ostium aedium ubi etiam antiqua jauna arcuato lapide.  Versus Occidentem 8 fenestrae et 3 in sacello; et ulterior pars vetusta.  Versus Aquilonem 10 fenestrae.  Facies Australis et Turris de Staunton, in qui archiva familiae reponuntur, extructa ante annos circa 400.  Pars restat kernellata,” &c. &c. &c.

The description goes on for a few more lines; but it matters not to continue them.  I should be much obliged by any of your readers giving an account of who this “ingenious writer” was, and on what authority he founded the foregoing observations, as it is a subject of much interest to me and others at the present time.

ALYTHES.

Jan. 28. 1850.

* * * * *

MINOR QUERIES.

MSS. formerly belonging to Dr. Hugh Todd.—­I shall feel most grateful to any of your correspondents who can afford me any information, however imperfect, respecting the MSS. of Dr. Hugh Todd, Vicar of Penrith, and Prebendary of Carlisle, in the beginning of the last century.  In the Cat.  MSS.  Angliae, &c., 1697, is a catalogue of nineteen MSS, then in his possession, five of which are especially the subject of the present inquiry.  One is a Chartulary of the Abbey of Fountains, in 4to; another is an Act Book of the Consistory Court of York, in the fifteenth century, in folio; the third is the Chapter Book of the Collegiate Church of Ripon, from 1452 to 1506; the fourth contains Extracts and Manuscripts from Records relating to the Church of Ripon; and the last is apparently a Book of the Acts of the Benefactors to that foundation.  In a letter to Humphrey Lawley, dated in 1713, Dr. Todd says he was engaged in a work relating to the province of York, and the greater part of the MSS. in the catalogue above mentioned appear to have been collected as the materials.

JOHN RICHARD WALBRAN.

Falcroft, Ripon, Jan 31. 1850.

French Leave—­In No. 5.  I perceive several answers to the query respecting Flemish Account, which I presume to be the same as Dutch Account.  Can you inform me how the very common expression French Leave originated?

W.G.B.

Portugal.—­Can any of your geographical readers inform me if a Gazetteer of Portugal has been published within these twenty years?  If there has been one, in what language, and where published?  Information of the title of any good modern works on Portugal, giving an account of the minor places, would be acceptable.