"About 10 dayes synce dyed the Countess of Notingham. The Queene loved the Countess very much, and hath seemed to take her death very heavelye, remayning euer synce in a deepe melancholye, w^{th} conceipte of her own death, and complayneth of many infirmyties, sodainlye to haue ouertaken her, as impost[=u]mecon in her head, aches in her bones, and continuall cold in her legges, besides notable decay in iudgem^t and memory, insomuch as she cannot attend to any discourses of governm^t and state, _but delighteth to heare some of the 100 merry tales, and such like, and to such is uery attentiue;_ at other tymes uery impatient, and testye, so as none of the Counsayle, but the secretary, dare come in her presence." May we not class this story of her majesty's {152} predilection for the hundred merry tales among the "black relations of the Jesuits?" SPES. _Meaning of Cefn._--What is the meaning of the Welsh word "Cefn" used as prefix? JOSEPHUS. 1. The first meaning of the word "Cefn" is, "the back;" _e.g._ "Cefn dyn," "the back of a man." 2. It also signifies "the upper part of the ridge of some elevated and exposed land." As a prefix, its meaning depends upon the fact whether the word attached to it be an adjective or a substantive. If an adjective be attached, it has the _second_ signification; _i.e._ it is the upper part of some exposed land, having the particular quality involved in the adjective, such as, "Cefndu," "Cefngwyn," "Cefncoch," the black, white, or red headland. When a substantive is attached, it has the _first_ signification; _i.e._ it is the _back_ of the thing signified by the substantive; such as, "Cefnllys," the back of the court. E. L. _Portrait of Archbishop Williams_ (Vol. iii., p. 8.).--There is a portrait of this prelate in the library of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, in the Cloisters. The greater part of the archbishop's library was given to this library, but only one volume of it seems to have been preserved. It is of this library the remark is made in J. Beeverell, _Delices de la Grande Bretagne_, p. 847., 12mo., 1707: "Il se trouve dans le cloistre une bibliotheque _publique_, qui s'ouvre soir et matin pendant les seances des Cours de Justice dans Westminstre." [mu]. _Sir Alexander Cumming_ (Vol. iii., p. 39.).--In answer to an inquiry relative to Sir Alexander Cumming, of Culter, I may refer to the _Scottish Journal_ (Menzies, Edin. 1848) _of Topography, Antiquities, Traditions, &c._, vol. ii. p. 254., where an extract from a MS. autobiography of the baronet is given. The work in which this occurs is little known; but, as a repertory of much curious and interesting information, deserved a more extensive circulation than it obtained. It stopped with the second volume, and is now somewhat scarce, as the unsold copies were disposed of for waste paper.