W. DOWNING BRUCE.

Translations.—­What English translations have appeared of the famous Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum?

Has La Chiave del Gabinetto del Signor Borri (by Joseph Francis Borri, the Rosicrucian) ever been translated into English?  I make the same Query as to Le Compte de Gabalis, which the Abbe de Rillan founded on Borri’s work?

JARLTZBERG.

Bonny Dundee—­Graham of Claverhouse.—­Can any of your correspondents tell me the origin of the term “Bonny Dundee?” Does it refer to the fair and flourishing town at the mouth of the Tay, or to the remarkable John Graham of Claverhouse, who was created Viscount of Dundee, after the landing of the Prince of Orange in England, and whose person is admitted to have been eminently beautiful, whatever disputes may exist as to his character and conduct?

2.  Can reference be made to the date of his birth, or, in other words, to his age when he was killed at Killycrankie, on the 27th of July, 1689.  All the biographies which I have seem are silent upon the point.

W.L.M.

Franz von Sickingen.—­Perusing a few of your back numbers, in a reply of S.W.S. to R.G. (Vol. i., p. 336.), I read: 

    “I had long sought for a representation of Sickingen, and at
    length found a medal represented in the Sylloge Numismatum
    Elegantiorum of Luckius,” &c.

I now hope that in S.W.S.  I have found the man who is to solve an obstinate doubt that has long possessed my mind:  Is the figure of the knight in Durer’s well-known print of “The Knight, Death, and the Devil,” a portrait?  If it be a portrait, is it a portrait of Franz von Sickingen, as Kugler supposes?  The print is said to bear the date 1513.  I have it, but have failed to discover any date at all.

H.J.H.

Sheffield.

Blackguard.—­When did this word Come into use, and from what?

Beaumont and Fletcher, in the Elder Brother, use it thus:—­

                       “It is a Faith
  That we will die in, since from the blackguard
  To the grim sir in office, there are few
  Hold other tenets.”

Thomas Hobbes, in his Microcosmus, says,—­

“Since my lady’s decay I am degraded from a cook and I fear the
devil himself will entertain me but for one of his blackguard,
and he shall be sure to have his roast burnt.”

JARLTZBERG.

Meaning of “Pension."—­The following announcement appeared lately in the London newspapers:—­

“GRAY’S INN.—­At a Pension of the Hon. Society of Gray’s Inn, holden this day, Henry Wm. Vincent, Esq., her Majesty’s Remembrancer in the Court of Exchequer, was called to the degree of Barrister at Law.” {135}

I have inquired of one of the oldest benchers of Gray’s Inn, now resident in the city from which I write, for an explanation of the origin or meaning of the phrase “pension,” neither of which was he acquainted with; informing me at the same time that the Query had often been a subject discussed among the learned on the dais, but that no definite solution had been elicited.