_Cross and Pile_ (Vol. vi., _passim._).--The various disquisitions of your
correspondents on the word _pile_ are very ingenious; but I think it is
very satisfactorily explained as "a ship" by Joseph Scaliger in _De Re
nummaria Dissertatio_, Leyden, 1616:
"Macrobius de nummo _ratito_ loquens, qui erat æreus: _ita fuisse
signatum hodieque intelligitur in aleæ lusu, quum pueri denarios in
sublime jactantes, Capita aut Navia, lusu teste vetustatis
exclamant_."--P. 58.
And in Scaligerana (prima):
"Nummus ratitus--ce qu'aujourd'hui nous appellons jouer à croix ou à
pile, car _pile_ est un vieil mot français qui signifiait un Navire,
_unde_ Pilote. Ratitus nummus erat ex ære, sic dictus ab effigie
ratus."--Tom. ii., Amsterdam, 1740, p. 130.
See also, _Auctores Latinæ Linguæ_, by Gothofred, 1585, p. 169. l. 53.
Also, _Dictionnaire National_ of M. Bescherelle, tome ii. p 885., Paris,
1846, art. PILE (_subst. fém._)
_En passant_, allow me to point out a very curious and interesting account
of this game, being the pastime of Edward II., in the _Antiquarian
Repertory_, by Grose and Astle: Lond. 1808, 4to., vol. ii. pp 406-8.
[Phi].
Richmond, Surrey.
_Ellis Walker_ (Vol. vii., p. 382.).--
"Ellis Walker, D.D.," according to Ware, "was born in the city of York;
but came young into Ireland, and was educated in the college of Dublin,
where he passed through all his degrees. He fled from thence in the
troublesome reign of King James II., and lived with an uncle at York,
where he translated _Epictetus_ into verse. After the settlement of
Ireland he returned, and for seven years employed himself with great
reputation in teaching a public school at Drogheda, where he died on
the 17th April, 1701, in the fortieth year of his age; and was buried
there in St. Peter's Church, and twenty years after had a monument
erected to his memory by one of his scholars."