I have been disposed to think that the most {38} probable motive which may have led to tombs and effigies, sometimes of an elaborate and costly character, being placed in such exposed positions, was the desire of obtaining the prayers of the passers-by for the soul of the deceased. It is worth notice, that the usage seems in England to have been very much limited to the 13th, or early part of the 14th century. I should, however, be very glad if any one who may possess information bearing on the subject would communicate it. N. * * * * * MINOR QUERIES. _Meaning of Venwell or Venville._--Will you allow me to make the following Query as to the custom of "Ven_well_" or "Ven_ville_"? Risdon, in his _Survey of Devon_, states it to be a right enjoyed by the tenants of land adjoining to Dartmoor of pasturage and cutting turf within the limits of the forest. He calls it "Fenfield, antiently Fengfield," but makes no allusion to the etymology of the word, or to the origin of the custom. Some of your correspondents can most probably afford information on both these points. R.E.G. 4. Lidlington Place, Harrington Square. _Erasmus and Farel._--In D'Aubigne's _History of the Reformation_, ii. 149. (White's Translation), it is said that Erasmus "instead of Farellus would often write _Fallicus_, thus designating one of the frankest men of his day with the epithets of cheat and deceiver." But Mr. Dyer, in his late _Life of Calvin_, spells the word _Phallicus_, and supposes it to allude to some amorous propensities of the reformer. Which of these authorities are we to believe? J.C.R. _Early Culture of the Imagination._--I have somewhere read, possibly in an article of the _Quarterly Review_, the opinion very strikingly expressed, and attributed to Mr. Lockhart, that children's imaginative faculty ought to be more prominently cultivated than their reason; and, on this ground, the reading of _Fairy Tales_, _The Arabian Nights_, &c. was recommended for children. Will any one kindly refer me to this passage? And, as it is wanted for an immediate purpose, an early insertion and reply to this query will oblige me. ALFRED GATTY. _Sir Thomas Bullen's Drinking Horn._--Does any one know whether the drinking horn which belonged to Sir Thomas Bullen still exists? By the will it was directed to be kept as a heir-loom. P.