_Church Service: Preliminary Texts._--Among the texts with which the Church of England Service commences, is one with two references; the former of these is the correct index to the words, the latter points to a kindred text. At Jer. x. 24. we find the passage; then why is Ps. vi. 1. added, no parallel text being indicated to any of the other ten? Has this always so stood? W. T. M. Hong Kong. _The Spinning-machine of the Ancients._--Can any of your readers give a satisfactory explanation of the difficult passage which occurs at the end of Catullus' _Epithalamium_, containing the description of the spinning-wheel of the Fates? As this has been such a perplexing subject hitherto to commentators, a solution of the terms there employed, {516} illustrated by a plan of the machine, would doubtless be a boon to many who have unsuccessfully tried to understand it. [Greek: Philomathês.] _View of Dumfries._--I have a modern lithographed view of the town of Dumfries, said to have been taken from an old engraving in some printed book. It represents a small chapel (the Crystal Chapel) on a height in the foreground, and the walls of the town and the old church behind. I have in vain sought for the original, and have almost come to the conclusion that the drawing is a forgery. Can any of your readers who have access to the Bodleian, inform me whether anything of the kind is to be found in Gough's _Topographical Collections_, which are there deposited? BALIVUS. Edinburgh. "_To pass the pikes._"--What is the origin of this phrase? G. TAYLOR. _May-day Custom._--Can any of your correspondents inform me of the origin of a singular custom which prevails in Huntingdonshire on May 1, viz. that of suspending from a rope, which is hung across the road in every village, a doll with pieces of gay-coloured silk and ribbon, and no matter what, attached to it; candlesticks and snuffers, spoons and forks, being parts of those I saw the other day in Summersham, St. Ives, and several other places. HENRIETTA M. COLE. 3. Gloucester Crescent, Hyde Park. _Maydenburi._--The seal with which I close my letter was purchased some years ago on the west coast of Wales. It is engraved on brass; the upper part being much beaten down, as if struck with a hammer when used, but the face is perfect. The legend is, "S. IONIS. DE MAYDENBVRI:" but being engraved in the usual direction, it reads on the impression from right to left. The "s." may be read either as "sanctus" or "sigillum." The figure is that of St. Christopher, bearing Christ across a running stream. I have not been able to discover the locality of Maydenburi, and therefore my questions to such of your readers as are more skilled in mediæval lore than myself, are, Where is this place situated, and what was its previous destination, monastic or otherwise? and who was the original proprietor of the seal? H. E. S. Tewkesbury.