a gastronomic question, of importance in archaeology; what table furniture or implements did the Spartans make use of to carry this sauce to their months?  A spoon, or some substitute for a spoon, must have been at hand in order to be able to enjoy this Schwarzsauer.”

It is certain at least that spoons and forks were unknown to the Spartans, and some have conjectured that a shell, and even an egg-shell, may have served the purpose.  Those who are desirous of knowing more about the Table-Supellectile of the ancients, may consult Casaubon’s Notes on Athenaeus, iv. 13. p. 241.; “Barufaldo de Armis Convivialibus,” in Sallengre’s Thesaurus, iii. 741.:  or Boettiger’s Dissertation above referred to.  How little ground the passage in Plutarch, De Sanitate Tuenda, afforded for the composition will appear from the passage, which I subjoin, having found some difficulty in referring to it: 

     [Greek:  Oi Lakones uxos kai halas dontes to mageiro, ta loipa
     keleuouso en to iereio setein.]

This only expresses the simplicity of Spartan cookery in general.

To revert to the original question propounded, however, I think we must come to the conclusion that coffee formed no part of the [Greek:  melas zomos.]

S.W.S.

     [Footnote 2:  Manso’s word is Tunke.]

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A HINT TO INTENDING EDITORS.

Allow me to suggest, as an addition to the sphere of usefulness of the “NOTES AND QUERIES,” that persons preparing new editions of old writers should give an early intimation of the work on which they are engaged to the public, through your paper.  Very many miscellaneous readers are in the habit of making notes in the margins of their books, without any intention of using them themselves for publication, and would be glad to give the benefit of them to any body to whom they would be welcome; but as matters are now arranged, one has no opportunity of hearing of an intended new edition until it is advertised as being in the press, when it is probably too late to send notes or suggestions; and one is also deterred from communicating with the editor from doubts {244} whether he will not think it an intrusion:  doubts which any editor who did wish for communications might dispel by making such an announcement as I have suggested.

R.R.

Lincoln’s Inn.

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NOTES UPON CUNNINGHAM’S HAND-BOOK OF LONDON.

St. Giles’s Pound.—­The exact site of this Pound, which occupied a space of thirty feet, was the broad space where St. Giles’s High Street, Tottenham Court Road, and Oxford Street meet.  The vicinity of this spot was proverbial for its profligacy; thus in an old song:—­

    “At Newgate steps Jack Chance was found,
    And bred up near St. Giles’s Pound.”

Dudley Court, St. Giles’s.—­This spot was once the residence of Alice Duchess of Dudley, in the reign of Charles the Second; and afterwards of the celebrated Lord Wharton.  The mansion and gardens were of considerable extent.