_Potguns_ (vol. vi., p. 612.).--DR. RIMBAULT, in reply to J. R. R., explains _potguns_ by "small guns." {191} They are, in fact, short cylinders set perpendicularly in a frame, "flat-candlestick"-wise, four or six in a row; and were fired by a train of powder running from touch-hole to touch-hole, as a part of the entertainment (a _feu-de-joie_, I suppose) at the public grounds at Norwich some twenty years ago, as I remember. B. B. WOODWARD. St. John's Wood. "_Pompey the Little._"--You mentioned lately the author of _Pompey the Little_ (Vol. vi., pp. 433. 472.). There is a curious note respecting him attached to the entry of another anonymous publication of his, "Philemon and Hydaspes, relating to a Conversation with Hortensius upon the subject of false Religion, 2nd edit., 8vo., 1738," in _Bibliotheca Parriana_, p. 85., which I transcribe: "_Mem._ These tracts are supposed to be wrote by H. C., Esq., of Mag. Coll., Cambridge.--J. Hetherington. Mr. Coventry wrote _Pompey the Little_. He took orders, and became vicar of Edgware, Middlesex; and he often preached from a folio volume of Tillotson's Sermons, which lay in the pulpit from week to week. He died of the small-pox. When living at Stanmore I heard much of his pleasantry, his politeness, and his integrity. I first read this book at the Rev. Dr. Davy's house in Norfolk, in August, 1816. This copy was most obligingly sent to me by Mr. Holmes, keeper of an academy at Stratford-upon-Avon, Thursday, Feb. 13, 1817.--S. P[arr]." BALLIOLENSIS. _Eagles supporting Lecterns_ (Vol. vi., pp. 415. 543.).--Are not many, or most of the so-called _eagles_ on lecterns in churches, _pelicans_? The symbolical significance of the pelican "vulning its breast," as the heralds have it, is well known. Some of these, which I remember well, have the beak bent down upon the breast and beneath it, instead of the indications of plumage elsewhere visible, a strip cross-hatched; in sign, as I have supposed, of the flowing blood. B. B. WOODWARD. St. John's Wood. _Lady Day in Harvest_ (Vol. vi., p. 589.).--The _Gotha Almanac_ gives Aug. 15 for Maria Himmelfahrt, or the Assumption; and Sept. 8 for Maria Geburt, or the Nativity. I happened to be going up the Rigi last year on the 5th August, and found that to be the day of pilgrimage to Mary zum Schnee, or Notre Dame des Neiges, who has a chapel which is passed in the ascent. J. P. O. _Inscriptions in Churches_ (Vol. vii., p. 25.).--NORRIS DECK'S extract, assigning these inscriptions to the reign of Edward VI., is valuable; but he need not have dissented from your account of the colloquy between Elizabeth and Dean Nowell, as you clearly hinted that "similar inscriptions had been _previously_ adopted" (Vol. vi., p. 511.). The colloquy occurred in the fourth year of Elizabeth's reign; but, from the following extract, her Majesty's proclamation was observed in Ireland two years previously: