_The Star in the East_ (St. Matt. ii. 2.).--I have been told that in the year of the Nativity three of the planets were in conjunction. Some one of your astronomical correspondents may probably be able to furnish information on this subject: it is full of sacred interest and wonder. J. W. H. _Meaning of Sinage: Distord: Slander._--In a translation of Luther's _Revelation of Antichrist_ by the Protestant martyr Frith, the word _sinage_ occurs in a list of ecclesiastical payments, which the popish prelates were wont to exact from the parochial clergy. If any of your correspondents can say what _sinage_ means, he may oblige me still further by explaining the word _distord_, in the same page; where it is said "they stir princes and officers to distord against them," viz., against such as resist the claims of churchmen. Is there any authority for supposing that _sclawnder_, ordinarily _slander_, may sometimes mean injury, without reference to character? It is certain that the parallel term _calumnia_ was so used in monkish Latin. H. W. _Miss._--It is generally, I believe, understood that, prior to the time of Charles II., married women were called _Mistress_, and unmarried had _Mistress_ prefixed to their Christian name; and that the equivocal position of many in that reign, gave rise to the peculiar designation of _Miss_ or "Mis." Can any of your readers show an earlier use of the term than the following, from _Epigrams of all Sorts_, by Richard Flecknoe, published 1669? "To Mis. Davis on her excellent Dancing. Dear Mis., delight of all the nobler sort, Pride of the stage and darling of the court." Again, was the term, when used with especial reference to these ladies, always spelt with one _s_, as _Mis_? M. S. _Jacques Mabiotte._--I read, that certain members of the continental masonic lodges interpret the Hiram, whose death the freemasons affect to deplore, as meaning Molai, Grand Master of the Templars; but that others understand the said Hiram to mean Jacques Mabiotte. Now, I should think the person whom secret associations can be even imagined, ever so falsely, to keep in continual remembrance, and who is thus placed in competition with the Grand Master of the Temple, should at least enjoy that moderate share of celebrity that will enable some of your correspondents to inform me who he was, and what were the circumstances of his death. I have not myself been able to find him. A. N. _Registry of British Subjects abroad._--There is a notion that all British subjects born in foreign parts are considered as born within the diocese of London. What is the origin of this notion? I have heard it said that it is founded on some order made by King George I., on the occasion of his journeys to Hanover. But it must be of older date. Can any of your readers throw any light upon this? and greatly oblige, J. B.