However, my object is not to give specimens of the production further than are necessary for its identification. My queries are, 1st, Who bought Mr. Heber's fragment, and where is it now to be found? 2nd, Are any of your correspondents aware of the existence of a perfect copy of the work? I naturally take a peculiar interest about Nicholas Breton, because I have in my possession an unknown collection of amatory and pastoral poems by him, printed in quarto in 1604, in matter and measure obvious imitations of productions in "The Passionate Pilgrim," 1599, imputed to Shakespeare, and some of which are unquestionably by Richard Barnfield. Any new information regarding Breton and his works will be most acceptable to me. I am already in possession of undoubted proof that he was the Nicholas Breton whose epitaph is on the chancel-wall of the church of Norton, in Northamptonshire, a point Ritson seems to have questioned. J. Payne Collier. March 30. 1850. * * * * * THE SWORD CALLED CURTANA. In the wardrobe account for the year 1483, are "iij swerdes, whereof oon with a flat poynte, {365} called _curtana_, and ij other swords, all iij swords covered in a yerde di of crymysym tisshue cloth of gold." The name of _curtana_ for many ages continued to be given to the first royal sword in England. It existed as long ago as the reign of Henry III., at whose coronation (A.D. 1236) it was carried by the Earl of Chester. We find it at the coronations of Edward II. and Richard II.; also in the time of Henry IV., Richard III., and Henry VII.; and among the royal arms of Edward VI. we read of "a swerde called _curtana_." Can any of your readers explain the origin of the name _curtana_, a sword so famous that it carries us back to the days of ancient chivalry, when it was wielded by the Dane _Uggiero_, or by the still more famed _Orlando_. Edward F. Rimbault. * * * * * IS THE DOMBEC THE DOMESDAY OF ALFRED? I beg to propose the following "Query":--Is the _Dombec_, a work referred to in the Laws of Edward the Elder, the same as what has been called the Domesday or Winchester Book of Alfred the Great? I incline to think that it is not, and shall be much obliged to any of your correspondents, learned in the Anglo-Saxon period of our history, who will give himself the trouble of resolving my doubts. Sir Henry Spelman, in his Glossary _voce Dombec_, calls it the _Liber Judicialis_ of the Anglo-Saxons; and says it is mentioned in the first chapter of the laws of Edward the Elder, where the king directs his judges to conduct themselves in their judicial proceedings as on [Old English: thaere dom bec stand], that is, as _is enjoined in their Dome Book_.--"Quod," he continues, "an de praecedentium Regum legibus quae hodie extant, intelligendum sit: an de alio quopiam libro hactenus non prodeunte, incertum est."