{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_16404/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_16404","id":"gutenberg_16404","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16404","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Journals","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Notes and Queries","Questions and answers -- Periodicals"],"text":"Produced by The Internet Library of Early Journals; Jon\nIngram, Patricia A Benoy, and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES:\n\nA MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES,\nGENEALOGISTS, ETC.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"When found, make a note of.\"--CAPTAIN CUTTLE.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNO. 61.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28. 1850. [Price Threepence.\nStamped Edition 4d.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{505}\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n  NOTES:--                                                   Page\n    Illustrations of Scottish Ballads, by Richard John King   505\n    The Red Hand--The Holt Family--Vincent Family             506\n    Vondel's Lucifer, by Janus Dousa                          507\n    A Myth of Midridge                                        509\n    Folk Lore Miscellanies:--St. Thomas's Day--Black Doll\n      at Old Store-shops--Snake Charming--Mice as a\n      Medicine--\"Many Nits, many Pits\"--Swans hatched\n      during Thunder--Snakes--Pixies or Piskies--Straw\n      Necklaces--Breaking Judas' Bones                        509\n        Local Rhymes and Proverbs of Devonshire               511\n        A Christmas Carol                                     513\n        A Note for little Boys                                513\n        Similarity of Traditions                              513\n        Pixey Legends                                         514\n        The Pool of the Black Hound                           515\n        Popular Rhymes                                        515\n    Minor Notes:--\"Passilodion\" and \"Berafrynde\"--\n      Inscription on an Alms-dish--The Use of the French\n      Word \"savez\"--Job's Luck--The Assassination of\n      Mountfort in For folk Street, Strand--The Oldenburgh\n      Horn--Curious Custom--Kite--Epitaph on John\n      Randal--Playing Cards                                   515\n\n\n  QUERIES:--\n    Dragons: their Origin                                     517\n    John Sanderson, or the Cushion Dance; and Bab at the\n      Bowster                                                 517\n    Did Bunyan know Hobbes? by J.H. Friswell                  518\n    Minor Queries:--Boiling to Death--Meaning of\n      \"Mocker\"--\"Away, let nought to love displeasing\"\n      --Baron Muenchausen--\"Sing Tantararara Rogues\n      all,\" &c.--Meaning of \"Cauking\"                         519\n\n  REPLIES:--\n    The Wise Men of Gotham, by J.B. Colman                    520\n    Replies to Minor Queries:--Master John Shorne--\n      Antiquity of Smoking--Meaning of the Word\n      \"Thwaites\"--Thomas Rogers of Horninger--Earl\n      of Roscommon--Parse--The Meaning of \"Version\"\n      --First Paper-mill in England--\"Torn by Horses\"\n      --Vineyards--Cardinal--Weights for Weighing\n      Coins--Umbrella--Croziers and Pastoral Staves           520\n\n  MISCELLANEOUS:--\n    Notes on Books, Sales, Catalogues, &c.                    523\n    Notices to Correspondents                                 524\n    Advertisements                                            524\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nNOTES.\n\nILLUSTRATIONS OF SCOTTISH BALLADS.\n\nIn the ballad of \"Annan Water\" (_Border Minstrelsy_, vol. iii.) is the\nfollowing verse:--\n\n    \"O he has pour'd aff his dapperpy coat,\n       The silver buttons glanced bonny;\n     The waistcoat bursted aff his breast,\n       He was sae full of melancholy.\"\n\nA very unexpected effect of sorrow, but one that does not seem to be\nunprecedented. \"A plague of sighing and grief,\" says Falstaff. \"It blows\na man up like a bladder.\"\n\nA remarkable illustration of Falstaff's assertion, and of the Scottish\nballad, is to be found in this _Saga of Egil Skallagrimson_. Bodvar, the\nson of Egil, was wrecked on the coast of Iceland. His body was thrown up\nby the waves near Einarsness, where Egil found it, and buried it in the\ntomb of his father Skallagrim. The _Saga_ continues thus:--\n\n    \"After that, Egil rode home to Borgar; and when he came there, he\n    went straightway into the locked chamber where he was wont to sleep;\n    and there he laid him down, and shot forth the bolt. No man dared\n    speak a word to him. And thus it is said that Egil was clad when he\n    laid Bodvar in the tomb. His hose were bound fast about his legs,\n    and he had on a red linen kirtle, narrow above, and tied with\n    strings at the sides. And men say that his body swelled so greatly\n    that his kirtle burst from off him, and so did his hose.\"--P. 602.\n\nIt is well known that the subjects of many ballads are common to\nScotland, and to the countries of Northern Europe. Thus, the fine old\n\"Douglas Tragedy,\" the scene of which is pointed out at Blackhouse\nTower, on the Yarrow, is equally localised in Denmark:\n\n    \"Seven large stones,\" says Sir Walter, \"erected upon the\n    neighbouring heights of Blackhouse, are shown as marking the spot\n    where the seven brethren were slain; and the Douglas Burn is avowed\n    to have been the stream at which the lovers stopped to drink; so\n    minute is tradition in ascertaining, the scene of a tragical tale,\n    which, considering, the rude state of former times, had probably\n    foundation in some real event.\"\n\nThe corresponding Danish ballad, however, that of \"Ribolt and Guldborg,\"\nwhich has been translated by Mr. Jamieson, is not less minute in\npointing out the scene of action. The origin of ballads, which are thus\nwidely spread, must probably be sought in very high antiquity; and we\ncannot wonder if we find them undergoing considerable {506} change in\nthe passage from one country to another. At least the \"Douglas Tragedy\"\nbetrays one very singular mark of having lost something of the original.\n\nIn \"Ribolt and Guldborg,\" when the lady's brothers have all but\novertaken the fugitives, the knight addresses her thus:\n\n    \"Light down, Guldborg, my lady dear,\n     And hald our steeds lay the renyes here.\n     And e'en sae be that ye see me fa'\n     Be sure that ye never upon me ca';\n     And e'en sae be that ye see me bleed,\n     Be sure that ye name na' me till dead.\"\n\nRibolt kills her father and her two eldest brothers, and then Guldborg\ncan no longer restrain herself:\n\n    \"Hald, hald, my Ribolt, dearest mine,\n     Now belt thy brand, for its 'mair nor time.\n     My youngest brother ye spare, O spare,\n     To my mither the dowie news to bear.\"\n\nBut she has broken her lover's mysterious caution, and he is mortally\nwounded in consequence:\n\n    \"When Ribolt's name she named that stound,\n    'Twas then that he gat his deadly wound.\"\n\nIn the Scottish ballad, no such caution is given; nor is the lady's\ncalling on her lover's name at all alluded to as being the cause of his\ndeath. It is so, however, as in the Danish version:\n\n    \"She held his steed in her milk-white hand,\n       And never shed one tear,\n     Until that she saw her seven brethren fa',\n       And her father hard fighting, who loved her so dear.\n\n    \"O hold your hand, Lord William, she said,\n       For your strokes they are wondrous sair;\n     True lovers I can get many a ane,\n       But a father I can never get mair.\"\n\nThere is no note in the _Kaempe Viser_, says Mr. Jamieson, on this\nsubject; nor does he attempt to explain it himself. It has, however, a\nclear reference to a very curious Northern superstition.\n\nThorkelin, in the essay on the Berserkir, appended to his edition of the\n_Kristni-Saga_, tells us that an old name of the Berserk frenzy was\n_hamremmi_, _i.e._, strength acquired from another or strange body,\nbecause it was anciently believed that the persons who were liable to\nthis frenzy were mysteriously endowed, during its accesses, with a\nstrange body of unearthly strength. If, however, the Berserk was called\non by his own name, he lost his mysterious form, and his ordinary\nstrength alone remained. Thus it happens in the _Svarfdaela Saga:_\n\n    \"Gris called aloud to Klanfi, and said, 'Klanfi, Klanfi! keep a fair\n    measure,' and instantly the strength which Klanfi had got in his\n    rage, failed him; so that now he could not even lift the beam with\n    which he had been fighting.\"\n\nIt is clear, therefore, continues Thorkelin, that the state of men\nlabouring under the Berserk frenzy was held by some, at least, to\nresemble that of those, who, whilst their own body lay at home\napparently dead or asleep, wandered under other forms into distant\nplaces and countries. Such wanderings were called _hamfarir_ by the old\nnorthmen; and were held to be only capable of performance by those who\nhad attained the very utmost skill in magic.\n\nRICHARD JOHN KING.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nTHE RED HAND.--THE HOLT FAMILY.\n(Vol. ii., pp. 248. 451.)\n\nYour correspondent ESTE, in allusion to the arms of the Holt\nfamily, in a window of the church of Aston-juxta-Birmingham, refers to\nthe tradition that one of the family \"murdered his cook, and was\nafterwards compelled to adopt the red hand in his arms.\" Este is\nperfectly correct in his concise but comprehensive particulars. That\nwhich, by the illiterate, is termed \"the bloody hand,\" and by them\nreputed as an abatement of honour, is nothing more than the \"Ulster\nbadge\" of dignity. The tradition adds, that Sir Thomas Holt murdered the\ncook in a cellar, at the old family mansion, by \"running him through\nwith a spit,\" and afterwards buried him beneath the spot where the\ntragedy was enacted. I merely revert to the subject, because, within the\nlast three months, the ancient family residence, where the murder is\nsaid to have been committed, has been levelled with the ground; and\namong persons who from their position in society might be supposed to be\nbetter informed, considerable anxiety has been expressed to ascertain\nwhether any portion of the skeleton of the murdered cook has been\ndiscovered beneath the flooring of the cellar, which tradition, fomented\nby illiterate gossip, pointed out as the place of his interment. Your\ncorrespondents would confer a heraldic benefit if they would point out\nother instances--which I believe to exist--where family reputation has\nbeen damaged by similar ignorance in heraldic interpretation.\n\nThe ancient family residence to which I have referred was situated at\nDuddeston, a hamlet adjoining Birmingham. Here the Holts resided until\nMay, 1631, when Sir Thomas took up his abode at Ashton Hall, a noble\nstructure in the Elizabethan style of architecture, which, according to\na contemporary inscription, was commenced in April, 1618, and completed\nin 1635. Sir Thomas was a decided royalist, and maintained his\nallegiance to his sovereign, although the men of Birmingham were\nnotorious for their disaffection, and the neighbouring garrison of\nEdgbaston was occupied by Parliamentarian troops. When Charles I., of\nglorious or unhappy memory, was on his way from Shrewsbury to the\nimportant battle of Edgehill, {507} on the confines of Warwickshire, he\nremained with Sir Thomas, as his guest, from the 15th to the 17th of\nOctober (vide Mauley's _Iter Carolinum_, Gutch's _Collectanea_, vol. ii.\np. 425.); and a closet is still pointed out to the visitor where he is\nsaid to have been concealed. A neighbouring eminence is to the present\nday called \"King's Standing,\" from the fact of the unhappy monarch\nhaving stood thereon whilst addressing his troops. By his acts of\nloyalty, Sir Thomas Holt acquired the hostility of his rebellious\nneighbours; and accordingly we learn that on the 18th of December, 1643,\nhe had recourse to Colonel Leveson, who \"put forty muskettiers into the\nhouse\" to avert impending dangers; but eight days afterwards, on the\n26th of December, \"the rebels, 1,200 strong, assaulted it, and the day\nfollowing tooke it, kil'd 12, and ye rest made prisoners, though w'th\nlosse of 60 of themselves.\" (Vide Dugdale's _Diary_, edited by Hamper,\n4to. p. 57.) The grand staircase, deservedly so entitled, bears evident\nmarks of the injury occasioned at this period, and an offending\ncannon-ball is still preserved.\n\nEdward, the son and heir of Sir Thomas, died at Oxford, on the 28th\nAugust, 1643, and was buried in Christ Church. He was an ardent\nsupporter of the king. The old baronet was selected as ambassador to\nSpain by Charles I., but was excused on account of his infirmities. He\ndied A.D. 1654, in the eighty-third year of his age. His excellence and\nbenevolence of character would afford presumptive evidence of the\nfalsehood of the tradition, if it were not totally exploded by the\nabsurdity of the hypothesis upon which it is grounded. Sir Thomas was\nsucceeded in the baronetcy by his grandson, Robert, who in compliance\nwith his will built an almshouse or hospital for five men and five\nwomen. It is unnecessary to pursue the family further, excepting to\nstate that nearly at the close of the last century the entail was cut\noff: the family is now unknown in the neighbourhood, excepting in its\ncollateral branches, and the hall has passed into the possession of\nstrangers. Its last occupant was James Watt, Esq., son of the eminent\nmechanical philosopher. He died about two years ago, and the venerable\nmansion remains tenantless.\n\nWith reference to the ancient family residence of the Holts, at\nDuddeston, it will be sufficient to observe, that in the middle of the\nlast century the house and grounds were converted into a tavern and\npleasure gardens, under the metropolitan title of Vauxhall: and for a\ncentury they continued to afford healthful recreation and scenic\namusement to the busy inhabitants of Birmingham. The amazing increase in\nthe size and population of the town has at length demanded this\ninteresting site for building purposes. Within the last three months the\nhouse and gardens have been entirely dismantled, a range of building has\nalready been erected, and old Vauxhall is now numbered amongst the\nthings that were.\n\nJ. GOODWIN.\n\nBirmingham.\n\n\n_\"Bloody Hands at Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey._--The legends of Sir Richard\nBaker (Vol. ii., pp. 67. 244.) and of a member of the Holt family (Vol.\nii., p. 451.) recall to my mind one somewhat similar, connected with a\nmonument in the church of Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, the appearance of a\n\"bloody hand\" upon which was thus accounted for to me:--\n\n    \"Two young brothers of the family of Vincent, the elder of whom had\n    just come into possession of the estate, were out shooting on\n    Fairmile Common, about two miles from the village; they had put up\n    several birds, but had not been able to get a single shot, when the\n    elder swore with an oath that he would fire at whatever they next\n    met with. They had not gone much further before the miller of a mill\n    near at hand (and which is still standing) passed them, and made\n    some trifling remark. As soon as he had got by, the younger brother\n    jokingly reminded the elder of his oath, whereupon the latter\n    immediately fired at the miller, who fell dead upon the spot. Young\n    Vincent escaped to his home, and by the influence of his family,\n    backed by large sums of money, no effective steps were taken to\n    apprehend him, and he was concealed in the 'Nunnery' on his estate\n    for some years, when death put a period to the insupportable anguish\n    of his mind. To commemorate his rash act and his untimely death,\n    this 'bloody hand' was placed on his monument.\"\n\nSo runs the story as far as I remember; the date I cannot recollect. The\nlegend was told me after I had left the church, and I had paid no\nparticular attention to the monument; but I thought at the time that the\nhand might be only the Ulster badge. I shall be obliged to any of your\nreaders who will throw further light upon this matter. A pilgrimage to\nStoke d'Abernon, whose church contains the earliest known brass in\nEngland, would not be uninteresting even at this season of the year.\n\nARUN.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nVONDEL'S LUCIFER.\n\nI have to complain of injustice done by a correspondent of \"NOTES\nAND QUERIES,\" to the Dutch poet Vondel. To the question mooted by\nF. (Vol. i. p. 142.), whether my countryman's _Lucifer_ has ever been\ntranslated into English, Hermes answers by a passage taken from the\n_Foreign Quarterly Review_ for April, 1829; and subjoins a list of the\n_dramatis personae_ \"given from the _original Dutch_ before him. The\ntragedy itself is condensed by your correspondent into a simple \"&c.\"\nNow, if HERMES, instead of referring to a stale review for a\ncomparison between Vondel's tragedy and the _Paradise Lost_, without\nshowing by _any_ proof that Milton's justly renowned epic {508} is\nindeed superior to this, one of the Dutch poet's masterpiece--if\nHERMES, being, as I conclude from his own words, conversant\nwith the language of _our_ Shakspeare, had taken pains to _read\nLucifer_, he would not have repeated a statement unfavourable to\nVondel's poetical genius. I, for my part, will _not_ hazard a judgment\non poems so different and yet so alike, I will _not_ sneer at Milton's\ndemon-gods of Olympus, nor laugh at \"their artillery discharged in the\ndaylight of heaven;\" for such instances of bad taste are to be\nconsidered as clouds setting off the glories of the whole; but _this_ I\nwill say, that Vondel wrote his _Lucifer_ in 1654, the sixty-seventh of\nhis life, while Milton's _Paradise Lost_ was composed four years later.\nThe honour of precedence, in time, at least, belongs to my countryman.\nAll the odds were against the British poet's competitor, if one who\nwrote before him may be so called; for, while Milton enjoyed every\nprivilege of a sound classical education, Vondel had still to begin a\ncourse of study when more than twenty-six years of age; and, while the\nDutch poet told the price of homely stockings to prosaic burghers, the\nwriter of _Paradise Lost_ was speaking the language of Torquato Tasso in\nthe country enraptured by the first sight of _la divina comedia_.\n\nI am no friend of polemical writing, and I believe the less we see of it\nin your friendly periodical, the better it is; but still I _must_\nprotest against such copying of partially-written judgments, when good\ninformation can be got. I say not by stretching out a hand, for the book\nwas already opened by your correspondent--but alone by using one's eyes\nand turning over a leaf or two. Else, why did HERMES learn the\nDutch language? I ask your subscribers if the following verses are\n_weak_, and if they would not have done honour to the English Vondel?\n\n                 CHORUS OF ANGELS.\n\n                  (From _Lucifer_.)\n\n    \"Who sits above heaven's heights sublime,\n       Yet fills the grave's profoundest place,\n     Beyond eternity, or time,\n       Or the vast round of viewless space:\n     Who on Himself alone depends--\n       Immortal--glorious--but unseen--\n     And in his mighty being blends\n       What rolls around or flows within.\n     Of all we know not--all we know--\n       Prime source and origin--a sea,\n     Whose waters pour'd on earth below\n       Wake blessing's brightest radiancy.\n    'Tis power, love, wisdom, first exalted\n       And waken'd from oblivion's birth;\n     Yon starry arch--yon palace, vaulted--\n       Yon heaven of heavens, to smile on earth.\n     From his resplendent majesty\n       We shade us 'neath our sheltering wings,\n     While awe-inspired, and tremblingly\n       We praise the glorious King of Kings,\n     With sight and sense confused and dim;\n       O name--describe the Lord of Lords,\n     The seraph's praise shall hallow Him;--\n       Or is the theme too vast for words?\"\n\n                     RESPONSE.\n\n    \"'Tis God! who pours the living glow\n        Of light, creation's fountain-head:\n      Forgive the praise--too mean and low--\n        Or from the living or the dead.\n      No tongue thy peerless name hath spoken,\n        No space can hold that awful name;\n      The aspiring spirit's wing is broken;--\n        Thou wilt be, wert, and art the same!\n      Language is dumb. Imagination,\n        Knowledge, and science, helpless fall;\n      They are irreverent profanation,\n        And thou, O God! art all in all.\n      How vain on such a thought to dwell!\n        Who knows Thee--Thee the All-unknown?\n      Can angels be thy oracle,\n        Who art--who art Thyself alone?\n      None, none can trace Thy course sublime,\n        For none can catch a ray from Thee,\n      The splendour and the source of time--\n        The Eternal of eternity.\n      Thy light of light outpour'd conveys\n        Salvation in its flight elysian,\n      Brighter than e'en Thy mercy's rays;\n        But vainly would our feeble vision\n      Aspire to Thee. From day to day\n        Age steals on us, but meets thee never;\n      Thy power is life's support and stay--\n        We praise thee, sing thee, Lord! for ever.\"\n\n                        CHORUS.\n\n    \"Holy, holy, holy! Praise--\n       Praise be His in every land;\n     Safety in His presence stays;\n       Sacred is His high command!\"\n\nDr. Bowring's version,--though a good one, if the difficulty be\nconsidered of giving back a piece of poetry, whose every word is a poem\nin itself, and by whose rhyme and accentuation a feeling of\nindescribable awe is instilled into the most fastidious reader's\nmind,--Dr. Bowring's version is but a feeble reverberation of the holy\nfire pervading our Dutch poet's anthem. But still there rests enough in\nhis copy to give one a high idea of the original. I borrow the same\nEnglishman's words when I add:--\n\n    \"The criticism that instructs, even though it instructs severely, is\n    most salutary and most valuable. It is of the criticism that\n    insults, and while it insults, informs not, that we have a right to\n    complain.\"--_Batavian Anthology_, p. 6.\n\nJANUS DOUSA.\n\nManpadt House.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{509}\n\n\nA MYTH OF MIDRIDGE;\n\n    _Or, A Story anent a witless Wight's Adventures with the Midridge\n    Fairies in the Bishoprick of Durham; now more than two Centuries\n    ago._\n\nTalking about fairies the other day to a nearly Octogenarian female\nneighbour, I asked, had she ever seen one in her youthful days. Her\nanswer was in the negative; \"but,\" quoth she, \"I've heard my grandmother\ntell a story, that Midridge (near Auckland) was a great place for\nfairies when she was a child, and for many long years after that.\" A\nrather lofty hill, only a short distance from the village, was their\nchief place of resort, and around it they used to dance, not by dozens,\nbut by hundreds, when the gloaming began to show itself of the summer\nnights. Occasionally a villager used to visit the scene of their gambols\nin order to catch if it were but a passing glance of the tiny folks,\ndressed in their vestments of green, as delicate as the thread of the\ngossamer: for well knew the lass so favoured, that ere the current year\nhad disappeared, she would have become the happy wife of the object of\nher only love; and also, as well ken'd the lucky lad that he too would\nget a weel tochered lassie, long afore his brow became wrinkled with\nage, or the snow-white blossoms had begun to bud forth upon his pate.\nWoe to those, however, who dared to come by twos or by threes, with\ninquisitive and curious eye, within the bounds of their domain; for if\ncaught, or only the eye of a fairy fell upon them, ill was sure to\nbetide them through life. Still more awful, however, was the result if\nany were so rash as to address them, either in plain prose or rustic\nrhyme. The last instance of their being spoken to, is thus still handed\ndown by tradition:--''Twas on a beautifully clear evening in the month\nof August, when the last sheaf had crowned the last stack in their\nmaster's hagyard, and after calling the \"harvest home,\" the daytale-men\nand household servants were enjoying themselves over massive pewter\nquarts foaming over with strong beer, that the subject of the evening's\nconversation at last turned upon the fairies of the neighbouring hill,\nand each related his oft-told tale which he had learned by rote from the\nlips of some parish grandame. At last the senior of the mirthful party\nproposed to a youthful mate of his, who had dared to doubt even the\nexistence of such creatures, that he durst not go to the hill, mounted\non his master's best palfrey, and call aloud, at the full extent of his\nvoice, the following rhymes:\n\n            \"Rise little Lads,\n             Wi' your iron gads,\n    And set the Lad o' Midridge hame.\"\n\nTam o' Shanter-like, elated with the contents of the pewter vessels, he\nnothing either feared or doubted, and off went the lad to the fairy\nhill; so, being arrived at the base, he was nothing loth to extend his\nvoice to its utmost powers in giving utterance to the above invitatory\nverses. Scarcely had the last words escaped his lips ere he was nearly\nsurrounded by many hundreds of the little folks, who are ever ready to\nrevenge, with the infliction of the most dreadful punishment, every\nattempt at insult. The most robust of the fairies, who I take to have\nbeen Oberon, their king, wielding an enormous javelin, thus, also in\nrhymes equally rough, rude, and rustic, addressed the witless wight:\n\n              \"Silly Willy, mount thy filly;\n               And if it isn't weel corn'd and fed,\n    I'll ha' thee afore thou gets hame to thy Midridge bed.\"\n\nWell was it for Willy that his home was not far distant, and that part\nlight was still remaining in the sky. Horrified beyond measure, he\nstruck his spurs into the sides of his beast, who, equally alarmed,\ndarted off as quick as lightning towards the mansion of its owner.\nLuckily it was one of those houses of olden time, which would admit of\nan equestrian and his horse within its portals without danger; lucky,\nalso, was it that at the moment they arrived the door was standing wide\nopen: so, considering the house a safer sanctuary from the belligerous\nfairies than the stable, he galloped direct into the hall, to the no\nsmall amazement of all beholders, when the door was instantly closed\nupon his pursuing foes! As soon as Willy was able to draw his breath,\nand had in part overcome the effects of his fear, he related to his\ncomrades a full and particular account of his adventures with the\nfairies; but from that time forward, never more could any one, either\nfor love or money, prevail upon Willy to give the fairies of the hill an\ninvitation to take an evening walk with him as far as the village of\nMidridge!\n\nTo conclude, when the fairies had departed, and it was considered safe\nto unbar the door, to give egress to Willy and his filly, it was found,\nto the amazement of all beholders, that the identical iron javelin of\nthe fairy king had pierced through the thick oaken door, which for\nservice as well as safety was strongly plated with iron, where it still\nstuck, and actually required the strength of the stoutest fellow in the\ncompany, with the aid of a smith's great fore-hammer, to drive it forth.\nThis singular relic of fairy-land was preserved for many generations,\ntill passing eventually into the hands of one who cared for none of\nthose things, it was lost, to the no small regret of all lovers of\nlegendary lore!\n\nM.A.D.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nFOLK LORE.\n\n_St. Thomas's Day._--A Guernsey charm _pour ve ki ke sera son amant_--\n\n\"Into a golden pippin stick eighteen new pins, nine in the eye, and nine\nin the stem, tie round it the left {510} garter, and place it under the\npillow. Get into bed backwards, saying,\n\n    \"Le jour de St. Thomas,\n     Le plus court, le plus bas,\n     Je prie Dieu journellement,\n     Qu'il me fasse voir, en dormant,\n     Celui qui sera mon amant;\n     Et le pays et la contree\n     Ou il fera sa demeuree,\n     Tel qu'il sera je l'aimerai,\n                Ainsi soit-il.\"\n\nVIATOR.\n\nNOV. 6. 1850.\n\n\n_Black Doll at Old Store-shops_ (Vol. i., p. 27.).--Is it not probable\nthat the black doll was an image of the Virgin, sold at the Reformation\nwith a lot of church vestments, and other \"rags of Popery,\" as the\nPuritans called the surplice, and first hung up by some Puritan or\nHebrew dealer.\n\nImages of the black Virgin are not uncommon in Roman Catholic churches.\nHas the colour an Egyptian origin, or whence is it?\n\nA. HOLT WHITE.\n\nGladwins, Harlow.\n\n\n_Snake Charming_.--Two or three summers ago, I was told a curious story\nof snake charming by a lady of undoubted veracity, in whose\nneighbourhood (about a dozen miles from Totnes) the occurrence had taken\nplace. Two coast-guard men in crossing a field fell in with a snake: one\nof them, an _Irishman_, threw his jacket over the animal, and\nimmediately uttered or muttered a charm over it. On taking up the\ngarment, after a few seconds had passed, the _snake was dead_.\n\nWhen I heard this story, and understood that the operator was an\nIrishman, I bethought me of how Rosalind says, \"I was never so be-rhymed\nsince Pythagoras' time, that I was an Irish rat,\" and accounted\nsatisfactorily for the fact that, \"as touching snakes, there are no\nsnakes in _Ireland_:\" for, as the song voucheth, \"the snakes committed\nsuicide to save themselves from slaughter,\" _i.e._ they _were charmed to\ndeath by St. Patrick_.\n\nI fear it would now be impossible to recover the charm made use of by\nthe coast-guard man; but I will have inquiry made, and if I can obtain\nany further particulars, I will forward them to you.\n\nJ.M.B.\n\n\n_Mice as a Medicine_ (Vol. ii., pp. 397. 435.).--The remedy of the roast\nmouse recommended in _The Pathway to Health_ (which I find is in the\nBritish Museum), is also prescribed in _Most Excellent and Approved\nRemedies_, 1652:--\"Make it in powder,\" says the author, \"and drink it\noff at one draught, and it will presently help you, especially if you\nuse it three mornings together.\" The following is \"an excellent remedy\nto stanch bleeding:\"--\n\n    \"Take a toad and dry him very well in the sun, then put him in a\n    linen bag, and hang him with a string about the neck of the party\n    that bleedeth, and let it hang so low that it may touch the breast\n    on the left side near unto the heart; and this will certainly stay\n    all manner of bleeding at the mouth, nose,\" &c.\n\nSage leaves, yarrow, and ale, are recommended for a \"gnawing at the\nheart;\" which I think should be \"made a note of\" for the benefit of poor\npoets and disappointed authors.\n\nWEDSECNARF.\n\n\n_Mice as a Medicine_ (Vol. ii., pp. 397. 435.).--I was stopping about\nthree years ago in the house of a gentleman whose cook had been in the\nservice of a quondam Canon of Ch. Ch., who averred that she roasted mice\nto cure her master's children of the hooping cough. She said it had the\neffect of so doing.\n\nCHAS. PASLAM.\n\n    \"Many Nits, [nuts]\n     Many Pits.\"\n\nA common saying hereabouts, meaning that if hazel-nuts, haws, hips, &c.,\nare plentiful, many deaths will occur. But whether the deaths are to be\noccasioned by nut-devouring or by seasonal influence, I cannot\nascertain. In many places, an abundant crop of hips and haws is supposed\nto betoken a severe winter.\n\nCHAS. PASLAM.\n\n\n_Swans hatched during Thunder._--The fable of the singing of swans at\ndeath is well known; but I recently heard a bit of \"folk lore\" as to the\nbirth of swans quite as poetical, and probably equally true. It is this:\nthat swans are always hatched during a thunderstorm. I was told this by\nan old man in Hampshire, who had been connected with the care of swans\nall his life. He, however, knew nothing about their singing at death.\n\nIs this opinion as to the birth of swans common? If so, probably some of\nyour numerous correspondents will detail the form in which such belief\nis expressed.\n\nROBERT RAWLINSON.\n\n\n_Snakes_ (Vol. ii., p. 164.).--Several years ago, in returning from an\nexcursion from Clevedon, in Somerset, to Cadbury Camp, I saw a viper on\nthe down, which I pointed out to the old woman in charge of the donkeys,\nwho assailed it with a stout stick, and nearly killed it. I expressed\nsurprise at her leaving it with some remains of life; but she said that,\nwhatever she did to it, it would \"live till sun-down, and as soon as the\nsun was set it would die.\" The same superstition prevails in Cornwall,\nand also in Devon.\n\nH.G.T.\n\n\n_Pixies or Piskies._--At Chudleigh Rocks I was told, a few weeks ago, by\nthe old man who acts as guide to the caves, of a recent instance of a\nman's being pixy-led. In going home, full of strong drink, across the\nhill above the cavern called the \"Pixies' Hole,\" on a moonlit night, he\nheard sweet {511} music, and was led into the whirling dance by the\n\"good folk,\" who kept on spinning him without mercy, till he fell down\n\"in a swoon.\"\n\nOn \"coming to himself,\" he got up and found his way home, where he \"took\nto his bed, and never left it again, but died a little while after,\" the\nvictim (I suppose) of _delirium tremens_, or some such disorder, the\nincipient symptoms of which his haunted fancy turned into the sweet\nmusic in the night wind and the fairy revel on the heath. In the tale I\nhave above given he persisted (said the old man), when the medical\nattendant who was called in inquired of him the symptoms of his illness.\nThis occurrence happened, I understood, very recently, and was told to\nme in perfect good faith.\n\nI have just been told of a man who several years ago lost his way on\nWhitchurch Down, near Tavistock. The farther he went the farther he had\nto go; but happily calling to mind the antidote \"in such case made and\nprovided,\" he turned his coat inside out, after which he had no\ndifficulty in finding his way. \"He was supposed,\" adds my informant, \"to\nbe pisky-led.\"\n\nAbout ten miles from Launceston, on the Bodmin road (or at least in that\ndirection) is a large piece of water called Dosmere (pronounced Dosmery)\nPool. A tradition of the neighbourhood says that on the shores of this\nlonely mere the ghosts of bad men are ever employed in binding the sand\n\"in bundles with _beams_ of the same\" (a local word meaning _bands_, in\nDevonshire called _beans;_ as _hay-beans_, and in this neighbourhood\nhay-_beams_, for hay-bands). These ghosts, or some of them, were driven\nout (they say \"_horsewhipped_ out,\" at any rate exorcised in some sort)\n\"by the parson\" from Launceston.\n\nH.G.T.\n\nLaunceston.\n\n\n_Straw Necklaces_ (Vol. i., p. 104).--Perhaps these straw necklaces were\nanciently worn to preserve their possessors against _witchcraft_; for,\ntill the thirteenth century, straw was spread on the floors to defend a\nhouse from the same evil agencies. Cf. _Le Grand d'Aussi Vie des Anciens\nFrancs_, tom. iii. pp. 132. 134; \"NOTES AND QUERIES,\" Vol. i.,\npp. 245. 294.\n\nJANUS DOUSA.\n\n\n_Breaking Judas' Bones._--On Good Friday eve the children at Boppart, on\nthe Rhine, in Germany, have the custom of making a most horrid noise\nwith _rattles_. They call it _breaking the bones of Judas_. Cf.\n\"NOTES AND QUERIES,\" Vol. i., p. 357.\n\nJANUS DOUSA.\n\n\nLOCAL RHYMES AND PROVERBS OF DEVONSHIRE.\n\n    \"River of Dart, oh river of Dart,\n     Every year thou claim'st a heart.\"\n\nIt is said that a year never passes without the drowning of one person,\nat least, in the Dart. The river has but few fords, and, like all\nmountain streams, it is liable to sudden risings, when the water comes\ndown with great strength and violence. Compare Chambers' _Popular\nRhymes_, p. 8., \"Tweed said to Till,\" &c. See also Olaus Wormius,\n_Monumenta Danica_, p. 17.\n\nThe moormen never say \"_the_ Dart,\" but always \"Dart.\" \"Dart came down\nlast night--he is very full this morning.\" The _cry_ of the river is the\nname given to that louder sound which rises toward nightfall. Cranmere\nPool, the source of the Dart, is a place of punishment for unhappy\nspirits. They may frequently be heard wailing in the morasses there.\nCompare Leyden _Scenes of Infancy_, pp. 315, 316., &c.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWescote (_View of Devonshire_: Exeter, 1845 (reprint), p. 348.) has a\ncurious story of the Tamar and Torridge. It is worth comparing with a\nlocal rhyme given by Chambers, p. 26.: \"Annan, Tweed, and Clyde,\" &c.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"When Haldon hath a hat\n     Kenton may beware a skat.\"\n\nThis often quoted saying is curiously illustrated by a passage from the\nromance of Sir Gawaya and the Grene Knicht (Madden's _Sir Gawaya_, p.\n77.):\n\n    \"Mist muged on the mor, malt on the mountes,\n     _Uch hille hadde a hatte_, a myst-hakel huge.\"\n\nIn the note on this passage Sir Frederick quotes two proverbs like the\nDevonshire one above. They are, however, well known, and there is no\nlack of similar sayings.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"When Plymouth was a furzy down,\n     Plympton was a borough town.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhen Brutus of Troy landed at Totnes, he gave the town its name; thus,--\n\n    \"Here I sit, and here I rest,\n     And this town shall be called Totnes.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"Crocker, Cruwys, and Coplestone,\n     When the Conqueror came, were found at home.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"Who on the Sabbath pares his horn,\n    'Twere better for him he had never been born.\"\n\n    \"At toto Thori die hominibus ungues secare minime licuit.\"\n    --Finn Magnusen, _Lex. Edd._, s.v. _Thor_.\n\nIn the district of Bohnsland, in Sweden, in the middle of the eighteenth\ncentury, it was not thought proper to fell wood on the afternoon of\nThursday. (Id.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"Many slones [sloes], many groans,\n     Many nits [nuts], many pits.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"When the aspen leaves are no bigger than your nail,\n     Is the time to look out for truff and peel.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{512}\n\n_Margaret's Flood_.--Heavy rain is expected about the time of St.\nMargaret's day (July 20th). It is called \"Margaret's flood.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"Widdecombe folks are picking their geese,\n           Faster, faster, faster.\"\n\nA saying among the parishes of the south coast during a snow-storm.\n'Widdecombe' is \"Widdecombe in the Dartmoors.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"Quiet sow, quiet mow.\"\n\nA saying with reference to land or lease held on lives. If the seed is\nsown without notice of the death of the life, the corn may be reaped,\nalthough the death took place before the sowing.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBees.--\n\n    \"If they swarm in May,\n     They're worth a pound next day.\n     If they swarm in July,\n     They're not worth a fly.\"\n\nBees must never be bought. It is best to give a sack of wheat for a\nhive.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Dinnick_ is the Devonshire name of a small bird, said to follow and\nfeed the cuckoo.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA cat will not remain in a house with an unburied corpse; and rooks will\nleave the place until after the funeral, if the rookery be near the\nhouse.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is proper to make a low bow whenever a single magpie is seen.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt is not considered safe to plant a bed of lilies of the valley; the\nperson doing so will probably die in the course of the next twelve\nmonths.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhere the rainbow rests, is a crock of gold.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA cork under the pillow is a certain cure for cramp.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nSeven different herbs must be used for making a herb poultice.\n\n    \"The editor remembers a female relation of a former vicar of St.\n    Erth, who, instructed by a dream, prepared decoctions of various\n    herbs, and repairing to the Land's End, poured them into the sea,\n    with certain incantations, with the expectation of seeing the\n    Lionesse rise immediately out of the water having all its\n    inhabitants alive, notwithstanding their long immersion.\"--Davies\n    Gilbert's _Cornwall_, vol. iii. p. 310.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIf the fire blazes up brightly when the crock is hung up, it is a sign\nthere is a stranger coming.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Cure for Thrush_.--Take the child to a running stream, draw a straw\nthrough its mouth, and repeat the verse, \"Out of the mouth of babes and\nsucklings,\" &c.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA creature of enormous size, called a \"bull-frog,\" is believed to live\nunder the foundation stones of old houses, hedges, &c. I remember having\nheard it spoken of with great awe.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Hen and Chickens._--In a parish adjoining Dartmoor is a green fairy\nring of considerable size, within which a black hen and chickens are\noccasionally seen at nightfall.\n\nThe vicar of a certain Devonshire parish was a distinguished student of\nthe black art, and possessed a large collection of mysterious books and\nmanuscripts. During his absence at church, one of his servants visited\nhis study, and finding a large volume open on the desk, imprudently\nbegan to read it aloud. He had scarcely read half a page when the sky\nbecame dark, and a great wind shook the house violently; still he read\non; and in the midst of the storm the door flew open, and a black hen\nand chickens came into the room. They were of the ordinary size when\nthey first appeared, but gradually became larger and larger, until the\nhen was of the bigness of a good sized ox. At this point the vicar\nsuddenly closed his discourse, and dismissed his congregation, saying he\nwas wanted at home, and hoped he might arrive there in time. When he\nentered the chamber the hen was already touching the ceiling. But he\nthrew down a bag of rice, which stood ready in the corner; and whilst\nthe hen and chickens were busily picking up the grains, he had time to\nreverse the spell.--(Ceridwer takes the form of a hen in the _Hanes\nTaliesin_.) I believe a hen and chickens is sometimes found on the\nbosses of early church roofs. A sow and pigs certainly are. A black sow\nand pigs haunt many cross roads in Devonshire.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe _Dewerstone_ is a lofty mass of rock rising above the bed of the\nPlym, on the southern edge of Dartmoor. During a deep snow, the traces\nof a naked human foot and of a cloven hoof were found ascending to the\nhighest point. The valley below is haunted by a black headless dog.\nQuery, is it Dewerstone, Tiwes-tun, or Tiwes-stan?--(Kemble's _Saxons_,\nvol. i. p. 351.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe great Cromlech at Drewsteignton is said to have been erected by\nthree _spinsters_ (meaning _spinners_); another legend says by three\nyoung men. The first is the more usual saying. The Cromlech is generally\ncalled \"The Spinster's Rock.\" Rowe (_Dartmoor_, p. 99.) suggests that\nthe three spinsters were the Valkyrien, or perhaps the Fates. He is no\ndoubt right.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nRock and stone legends abound. A great quoit on the top of Heltor is\nsaid to have been thrown {513} there by the Devil during fight with King\nArthur. Adin's Hole (Etin's) is the name of a sea cavern near Torquay;\nanother is Daddy's Hole. The Devil long hindered the building of\nBuckfastleigh Church, which stands on the top of a steep hill. A stone,\nat about the distance of a mile, has the marks of his finger and thumb.\nThe stone circles, &c. on Dartmoor, are said to have been made \"when\nthere were wolves on the hills, and winged serpents in the low lands.\"\nOn the side of Belstone Tor, near Oakhampton, is a small grave circle\ncalled \"Nine Stones.\" It is said to dance every day at noon.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhoever shall find the treasure hidden in Ringmore Down, may plough with\na golden plough-share, and yoke his oxen with golden cross-sticks.\n\nR.J.K.\n\n\nA CHRISTMAS CAROL.\n\nThe following carol has not, I believe, been printed in any of the\nmodern collections; certainly it is not in those of Mr. Sandys and Mr.\nWright. It is copied from Ad. MS. Brit. Mus. 15,225, a manuscript of the\ntime of James I. It may, perhaps, bethought appropriate for insertion in\nyour Christmas number. I have modernised the orthography.\n\n         A CAROL FOR CHRISTMAS-DAY.\n\n    Rejoice, rejoice, with heart and voice,\n    For Christ his birth this day rejoice.\n\n                          1.\n\n    From Virgin's womb to us this day did spring\n      The precious seed that only saved man;\n    This day let man rejoice and sweetly sing,\n      Since on this day salvation first began.\n    This day did Christ man's soul from death remove,\n    With glorious saints to dwell in heaven above.\n\n                          2.\n\n    This day to man came pledge of perfect peace,\n      This day to man came love and unity,\n    This day man's grief began for to surcease,\n      This day did man receive a remedy\n    For each offence, and every deadly sin,\n    With guilt of heart that erst he wander'd in.\n\n                          3.\n\n    In Christ his flock let love be surely placed,\n      From Christ his flock let concord hate expel,\n    In Christ his flock let love be so embraced,\n      As we in Christ, and Christ in us, may dwell.\n    Christ is the author of all unity,\n    From whence proceedeth all felicity.\n\n                          4.\n\n    O sing unto this glittering glorious King,\n      And praise His name let every living thing;\n    Let heart and voice, let bells of silver, ring,\n      The comfort that this day to us did bring;\n    Let lute, let shawm, with sound of sweet delight,\n    The joy of Christ his birth this day recite.\n\nBUON. ERIC.\n\n\nA NOTE FOR LITTLE BOYS.\n\nIn order that all good little boys who take an interest in the\n\"NOTES AND QUERIES\" may know how much more lucky it is for them\nto be little boys now, than it was in the ancient times, I would wish\nthem to be informed of the cruel manner in which even good little boys\nwere liable to be treated by the law of the Ripuarians. When a sale of\nland took place it was required that there should be twelve witnesses,\nand with these as many boys, in whose presence the price of the land\nshould be paid, and its formal surrender take place; and then the boys\nwere beaten, and their ears pulled, so that the pain thus inflicted upon\nthem should make an impression upon their memory, and that they might,\nif necessary, be afterwards witnesses as to the sale and delivery of the\nland. (_Lex Ripuarium LX., de Traditionibus et Testibus._) In a note of\nBalucius upon this passage he states:\n\n    \"A practice somewhat similar to this prevails in our our times, for\n    in some of the provinces, whenever a notorious criminal is condemned\n    to death, parents bring their sons with them to the place of\n    execution, and, at the moment that he is put to death, they whip\n    their children with rods, so that being thus excited by their own\n    sufferings, and by seeing the punishment inflicted on another for\n    his sins, they may ever bear in mind how necessary it is for them,\n    in their progress through life, to be prudent and virtuous.\"--_Rev.\n    Gall. et Franc. Script._, vol. iv. p. 277. n.e.\n\nW.B. MACCABE.\n\n\nSIMILARITY OF TRADITIONS.\n\nHaving recently met with some curious instances of the extent to which\nthe same or similar traditions extend themselves, not only in our own\ncountry, but in Wales and France, I have \"made a note\" of them for your\nservice.\n\n_Burying in the church wall_ is supposed to be burying in neutral\nground.\n\nIn the north wall of the church of Tremeirchion, near the banks of the\nElwy, North Wales (described by Pennant, vol. ii. p. 139.), is the tomb\nof a former vicar, Daffydd Ddu, or the black of Hiradduc, who was vicar\nof the parish, and celebrated as a necromancer, flourishing about 1340.\nOf him the tradition is, that he proved himself more clever than the\nWicked One himself. A bargain was made between them that the vicar\nshould practise the black art with impunity during his life, but that\nthe Wicked One should possess his body after death, whether he were\nburied within or without the church; and that the worthy vicar cheated\nhis ally of his bargain by being buried neither within nor without the\nchurch, but in the wall itself.\n\nA very similar tradition exists at Brent Pelham, Hertfordshire, with\nreference to the tomb of Pierce Shonke, which was also in the wall. He\nis said to have died A.D. 1086. Under the feet of the figure {514} was\na \"cross flourie, and under the cross a serpent\" (Weever, p. 549.), and\nthe inscription is thus translated in Chauncy's _Hertfordshire_, p. 143:\n\n    \"Nothing of Cadmus nor St. George, those names\n     Of great renown, survives them, but their fames;\n     Time was so sharp set as to make no bones\n     Of theirs nor of their monumental stones,\n     But _Shonke_ one serpent kills, t'other defies,\n     And in this wall as in a fortress lyes.\"\n\nWhilst in the north wall of Rouen Cathedral is the tomb of an early\narchbishop, who having accidentally killed a man by hitting him with a\nsoup ladle, because the soup given by the servant to the poor was of an\ninferior quality, thought himself unworthy of a resting-place within the\nchurch, and disliking to be buried without, was interred in the wall\nitself.\n\n\n_Miraculous Cures for Lameness._--The holy well _Y fynnon fair_, or Our\nLady's Well, near Pont yr allt Goch, close to the Elwy, has to this day\nthe reputation of curing lameness so thoroughly, that those who can\nreach it walking on crutches may fling their crutches away on their\nreturn home. Welsh people still come several miles over the hills to\nthis holy spring. A whole family was there when I visited its healing\nwaters last month.\n\nThe same virtue is ascribed at Rouen to a walk to the altar at St.\nKatherine's Church, at the top of St. Katherine's Hill, where the\ncast-off crutches have been preserved. In the latter case something less\nthan a miracle may account for the possibility of going away without\ncrutches; for they may be required to mount to a lofty eminence, and may\nwell be dispensed with on coming down: but as this supposition would\nlessen the value of a tradition implicitly believed, of course all\nsensible men will reject it at once.\n\nWM. DURANT COOPER.\n\n81. Guilford Street.\n\n\nPIXEY LEGENDS.\n\nIn reference to your correspondent H.G.T.'s article on _pixies_ (Vol.\nii., p. 475.), allow me to say that I have read the distich which he\nquotes in a tale to the following effect:--In one of the southern\ncounties of England--(all the pixey tales which I have heard or read\nhave their seat laid in the south of England)--there lived a lass who\nwas courted and wed by a man who, after marriage, turned out to be a\ndrunkard, neglecting his work, which was that of threshing, thereby\ncausing his pretty wife to starve. But after she could bear this no\nlonger, she dressed herself in her husband's clothes (whilst he slept\noff the effects of his drunkenness), and went to the barn to do her\nhusband's work. On the morning of the second day, when she went to the\nbarn, she found a large pile of corn threshed, which she had not done;\nand so she found, for three or four days, her pile of corn doubled. One\nnight she determined to watch and see who did it, and carrying her\nintention into practice, she saw a little pixey come into the barn with\na tiny flail, with which he set to work so vigorously that he soon\nthreshed a large quantity. During his work he sang,\n\n    \"Little Pixey, fair and slim,\n     Without a rag to cover him.\"\n\nThe next day the good woman made a complete suit of miniature clothes,\nand hung them up behind the barn door, and watched to see what _pixey_\nwould do. I forgot to mention that he hung his flail behind the door\nwhen he had done with it.\n\nAt the usual time the pixey came to work, went to the door to take down\nhis flail, and saw the suit of clothes, took them down, and put them on\nhim, and surveyed himself with a satisfied air, and sang\n\n    \"Pixey fine, and pixie gay.\n     Pixey now must fly away.\"\n\nIt then flew away, and she never saw it more.\n\nIn this tale the word was invariably spelt \"pixey.\"\n\nTYSIL.\n\n\n_Pixies._--The _puckie_-stone is a rock above the Teign, near Chagford.\nIn the _Athenaeum_ I mentioned the rags in which the pixies generally\nappear. In _A Narrative of some strange Events that took place in Island\nMagee and Neighbourhood in 1711_, is this description of a spirit that\ntroubled the house of Mr. James Hattridge:\n\n    \"About the 11th of December, 1710, when the aforesaid Mrs. Hattridge\n    was sitting at the kitchen-fire, in the evening, before daylight\n    going, a little boy (as she and the servants supposed) came in and\n    sat down beside her, having an old black bonnet on his head, with\n    short black hair, a half-worn blanket about him, trailing on the\n    ground behind him, and a _torn_ black vest under it. He seemed to be\n    about ten or twelve years old, but he still covered his face,\n    holding his arm with a piece of the blanket before it. She desired\n    to see his face, but he took no notice of her. Then she asked him\n    several questions; viz., if he was cold or hungry? If he would have\n    any meat? Where he came from, and where he was going? To which he\n    made no answer, but getting up, danced very nimbly, leaping higher\n    than usual, and then ran out of the house as far as the end of the\n    garden, and sometimes into the cowhouse, the servants running after\n    him to see where he would go, but soon lost sight of him; but when\n    they returned, he would be close after them in the house, which he\n    did above a dozen of times. At last the little girl, seeing her\n    master's dog coming in, said, 'Now my master is coming he will take\n    a course with this troublesome creature,' upon which he immediately\n    went away, and troubled them no more till the month of February,\n    1711.\"\n\nThis costume is appropriate enough for an Irish spirit; but here may\npossibly be some connexion with the ragged clothes of the Pixies. (Comp.\n\"Tatrman,\" _Deutsche Mythol._, p. 470.; and Canciani's note \"De\nSimulachris de Pannis factis,\" _Leges Barbar._, iii. p. 108.; _Indic.\nSuperst._) The common story of Brownie and his clothes is, I suppose,\nconnected. {515}\n\nIn some parts of Devonshire the pixies are called \"derricks,\" evidently\nthe A.-S. \"doeorg.\" In Cornwall it is believed that wherever the pixies\nare fond of resorting, the depths of the earth are rich in metal. Very\nmany mines have been discovered by their singing.\n\nR.J.K.\n\n\nTHE POOL OF THE BLACK HOUND.\n\nIn the parish of Dean Prior is a narrow wooded valley, watered by a\nstreamlet, that in two or three places falls into cascades of\nconsiderable beauty. At the foot of one of these is a deep hollow called\nthe Hound's Pool. Its story is as follows.\n\nThere once lived in the hamlet of Dean Combe a weaver of great fame and\nskill. After long prosperity he died, and was buried. But the next day\nhe appeared sitting at the loom in his chamber, working diligently as\nwhen he was alive. His sons applied to the parson, who went accordingly\nto the foot of the stairs, and heard the noise of the weaver's shuttle\nin the room above. \"Knowles!\" he said, \"come down; this is no place for\nthee.\" \"I will,\" said the weaver, \"as soon as I have worked out my\nquill,\" (the \"quill\" is the shuttle full of wool). \"Nay,\" said the\nvicar, \"thou hast been long enough at thy work; come down at once!\"--So\nwhen the spirit came down, the vicar took a handful of earth from the\nchurchyard, and threw it in its face. And in a moment it became a black\nhound. \"Follow me,\" said the vicar; and it followed him to the gate of\nthe wood. And when they came there, it seemed as if all the trees in the\nwood were \"coming together,\" so great was the wind. Then the vicar took\na nutshell with a hole in it, and led the hound to the pool below the\nwaterfall. \"Take this shell,\" he said; \"and when thou shalt have dipped\nout the pool with it, thou mayst rest--not before.\" And at mid-day, or\nat midnight, the hound may still be seen at its work.\n\nR.J.K.\n\n\nPOPULAR RHYMES.\n\nThe following popular rhymes may perhaps amuse some of your readers.\nThey are not to be found in the article \"Days Lucky or Unlucky,\" in\nBrand's _Popular Antiquities_, or in Sir Henry Ellis's notes (see his\nedition, vol. ii. p. 27.), and perhaps have never been printed:--\n\n _Days of the Week.--Marriage._\n\n    \"Monday for wealth,\n     Tuesday for health,\n    Wednesday the best day of all;\n     Thursday for crosses,\n     Friday for losses,\n    Saturday no luck at all.\"\n\n         _Moon._\n\n    \"Saturday new,\n     And Sunday full,\n     Never was fine,\n     And never wool.\"\n\n  _Days of the Week.--Birth._\n\n    \"Born of a Monday,\n       Fair in face;\n     Born of a Tuesday,\n       Full of God's grace;\n     Born of a Wednesday,\n       Merry and glad;\n     Born of a Thursday,\n       Sour and sad;\n     Born of a Friday,\n       Godly given;\n     Born of a Saturday,\n       Work for your living;\n     Born of a Sunday,\n       Never shall we want;\n     So there ends the week,\n       And there's an end on't.\"\n\n     _How to treat a Horse._\n\n    \"Up the hill, urge him not;\n     Down the bill, drive him not;\n     Cross the flat, spare him not;\n     To the hostler, trust him not.\"\n\n  _How to sow Beans._\n\n    \"One for the mouse,\n     One for the crow,\n     One to rot,\n     One to grow.\"\n\n    _January Weather._\n\n    \"When the days lengthen,\n    The colds strengthen.\"\n\nTwo German proverbial distiches, similar to the last, are given in\nKoerte's _Sprichwoerter_, p. 548.:\n\n    \"Wenn de Dage fangt an to laengen,\n     Fangt de Winter an to strengen.\"\n\n      \"Wenn die Tage langen,\n       Kommt der Winter gegangen.\"\n\nWith the first set of rhymes, we may compare the following verses on\nwashing on the successive days of the week, in Halliwell's _Nursery\nRhymes of England_, p. 42. ed. 3.:\n\n    \"They that wash on Monday\n       Have all the week to dry;\n     They that wash on Tuesday,\n       Are not so much awry;\n     They that wash on Wednesday,\n       Are not so much to blame;\n     They that wash on Thursday,\n       Wash for shame;\n     They that wash on Friday,\n       Wash in need;\n     And they that wash on Saturday,\n      Oh! they are sluts indeed.\"\n\nL.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nMinor Notes.\n\n_\"Passilodion\" and \"Berafrynde.\"_--Have these terms, which play so\nmemorable a part in the \"Tale of King Edward and the Shepherd\" {516}\n(Hartshorne's _Ancient Metrical Tales_) been explained? The shepherd's\ninstructions (pp. 48, 49.) seem more zealous than luminous; but it has\noccurred to me that _perhaps_ \"passelodion,\" \"passilodyon,\" or\n\"passilodion\" may have some reference to the ancient custom of drinking\nfrom a _peg_-tankard, since [Greek: passalos] means a _peg_, and [Greek:\npassalodia] would be a legitimate pedantic rendering of _peg-song_, or\n_peg-stave_, and _might_ be used to denote an exclamation on having\n_reached the peg_.\n\nH.G.T.\n\n\n_Inscription on an Alms-dish._--In Bardsea Church, Island of Furness, is\nan alms-dish(?) of a large size, apparently very old, gilt, and bearing\nthe following inscription:--\n\n    \"WYLT : GHY : LANGHELEVEN : SOO : ERT : GODT :\n       ENDE : HOOVT : ZYN : GEBAT : VORWAR.\"\n\nBardsea Church is recently erected in a district taken out of Urswick\nparish.\n\nCan any of your readers give an explanation of the inscription?\n\nF.B. RELTON.\n\n[This is another specimen of the alms-dishes, of which several have been\ndescribed in our First Volume. The legend may be rendered, _If thou wilt\nlive long, honour God, and above all keep His commandments_.]\n\n\n_The Use of the French Word \"savez.\"_--About fifty years ago the use of\nthe French word _savez_, from the verb _savoir_, to know, was in general\nuse (and probably is so at the present time) among the negroes in the\nisland of Barbadoes,--\"_Me no savez, Massa_,\" for, \"I do not know,\nMaster (or Sir).\" It occurred to the writer at that time as a very\nsingular fact, because the French had never occupied that island; nor is\nhe aware of any French negroes having been introduced there. He had also\nbeen informed of its use in other places, but made no note of it. In the\n_Morning Herald_ of the 7th instant there is a statement that the\nChinese at Canton, speaking a little English, make use of the same word.\nCan any of your readers give an explanation of this?\n\nJ.F.\n\n\n_Job's Luck_.--I send you another version of Job's luck, in addition to\nthose that have lately appeared in \"NOTES AND QUERIES:\"\n\n    \"The devil engaged with Job's patience to battle,\n     Tooth and nail strove to worry him out of his life;\n     He robb'd him of children, slaves, houses, and cattle,\n     But, mark me, he ne'er thought of taking his wife.\n\n    \"But heaven at length Job's forbearance rewards,\n     At length double wealth, double honour arrives,\n     He doubles his children, slaves, houses, and herds,\n     But we don't hear a word of a couple of wives.\"\n\nA.M.\n\n\n_The Assassination of Mountfort in Norfolk street, Strand._--The murder\nof Mountfort is related with great particularity in Galt's _Lives of the\nPlayers_, and is also detailed in, if I recollect aright, Mr. Jesse's\n_London and its Celebrities;_ but in neither account is the following\nanecdote mentioned, the purport of which adds, if possible, to the\nblackness of Mohun's character:--\n\n    \"Mr. Shorter, Horace Walpole's mother's father, was walking down\n    Norfolk Street in the Strand, to his house there, just before poor\n    Mountfort the player was killed in that street by assassins hired by\n    Lord Mohun. This nobleman lying in for his prey, came up and\n    embraced Mr. Shorter by mistake, saying 'Dear Mountfort.' It was\n    fortunate that he was instantly undeceived, for Mr. Shorter had\n    hardly reached his house before the Murder took\n    place.\"--_Walpoliana_, vol. ii. p. 97., 2nd ed.\n\nJ.B.C.\n\n\n_The Oldenburgh Horn_ (Vol. ii., p. 417.) is preserved amongst the\nantiquities in the Gallery of the King of Denmark at Copenhagen. It is\nof silver gilt, and ornamented in paste with enamel. It is considered by\nthe Danish antiquaries to be of the time of Christian I., in the latter\nhalf of the fifteenth century. There are engraved on it coats of arms\nand inscriptions, which show that it was made for King Christian I., in\nhonour of the three kings, or wise men, on whose festival he used it, at\nCologne.\n\nW.C. TREVELYAN.\n\nWallington, Dec. 19. 1850.\n\n[We avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by Sir Walter\nTrevelyan's communication to add from Vulpius (_Handwoerterbuch der\nMythologie_) the following additional references to representations and\ndescriptions of this celebrated horn--which is there said (p. 184.) to\nhave been found in 1639:--Schneider, _Saxon. Vetust._ p. 314.;\nWinkelmann's _Oldenburgische Chronik._ s. 59.; S. Meyer, _Vom\nOldenburgischen Wunderhorne_, Bremen, 1757.]\n\n\n_Curious Custom_.--In 1833 the late Record Commissioners issued Circular\nQuestions to the Municipal Corporations of England and Wales, requesting\nvarious information; among such questions was the following:--\"Do any\nremarkable customs prevail, or have any remarkable customs prevailed\nwithin memory, in relation to the ceremonies accompanying the choice of\ncorporate officers, annual processions, feasts, &c., not noticed in the\nprinted histories or accounts of your borough? Describe them, if there\nbe such.\"\n\nTo this question the borough of Chippenham, Wilts, replied as\nfollows:--\"The corporation dine together twice a-year, and _pay for it\nthemselves_!\" (_Report of Record Commissioners_, 1837, p. 442.)\n\nJ.E.\n\n\n_Kite_ (_French_, \"_Cerf-volant_\").--Some years ago, when reading Dr.\nParis' popular work called _Philosophy in Sport made Science in\nEarnest_, 5th edition, London, J. Murray, 1842, I observed that the\nauthor could not explain the meaning of the French term \"cerf-volant,\"\napplied to the toy so well known among boys in England as a \"kite,\" and\nin Scotland as a \"dragon.\" The following passages will solve this\nmystery: {517}\n\n    \"Cerf-volant. Scarabaeus lucanus. Sorte d'insecte volant qui porte\n    des cornes dentelees, comme celles du cerf.\n\n    \"Cerf-volant. Ludicra scarabei lucani effigies. On donne ce nom a\n    une sorte de joueet d'enfans qui est compose de quelques batons\n    croises sur lesquels on etend du papier, et exposant cette petite\n    machine a l'air, le moindre vent la fait voler. On la retient et on\n    la tire comme l'on veut, par le moyen d'une longue corde qui y est\n    attachee.\"--See _Dictionnaire de la Langue Francoise_, de Pierre\n    Richelet; a Amsterdam, 1732.\n\nIn Kirby and Spence's _Entomology_, vol. ii. p. 224., they mention \"the\nterrific and protended jaws of the stag-beetle of Europe, the _Lucanus\nCervus_ of Linnaeus.\"\n\nThe \"toothed horns\" alluded to by Richelet are represented by the pieces\nof stiff paper fastened at intervals, and at right angles, to the\nstring-tail of the toy kite, or dragon, so much delighted in by boys at\ncertain seasons of the year in England and Scotland.\n\nG.F.G.\n\nEdinburgh.\n\n\n_Epitaph on John Randal._--As a counterpart to Palise's death, I have\nsent a Warwickshire epitaph, taken from Watford Magna churchyard,\nwritten about the same period:\n\n    \"Here old John Randal lies, who counting by his sale,\n     Lived three score years and ten, such virtue was in ale;\n     Ale was his meat, ale was his drink, ale did his heart revive,\n     And could he still have drunk his ale, he still had been alive.\"\n\nJ.R.\n\n\n_Playing Cards._--As a rider to THE HERMIT OF HOLYPORT'S Query\nrespecting his playing cards (Vol. ii., p. 462.), I would throw out a\nsuggestion to all your readers for notices of similar emblematic playing\ncards: whether such were ever used for playing with? what period so\nintroduced? and where? as both France and Spain lay claim to their first\nintroduction. I see that Mr. Caton exhibited at one of the meetings of\nthe Archaeological Institute this season a curious little volume of small\ncounty maps, numbered so as to serve as a pack of cards (described more\nfully in the _Archaeological Journal_ for September, 1850, p 306.), and\nwhich I regret I did not see.\n\nW.H.P.\n\nWanstead, Dec. 13. 1850.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nQueries.\n\nDRAGONS: THEIR ORIGIN.\n\nWhen passing through the city of Bruenn, in Moravia, rather more than a\nyear ago, my attention was drawn to the _Lindwurm_ or dragon, preserved\nthere from a very remote period. This monster, according to tradition,\nwas invulnerable, like his brother of Wantley, except in a few\nwell-guarded points, and from his particular predilection in favour of\nveal and young children, was the scourge and terror of the\nneighbourhood. The broken armour and well-picked bones of many doughty\nknights, scattered around the entrance to the cave he inhabited,\ntestified to the impunity with which he had long carried on his\ndepredations, in spite of numerous attempts to destroy him. Craftiness,\nhowever, at last prevailed where force had proved of no effect, and the\nLindwurm fell a victim to the skill of a knight, whose name I believe\nhas been handed down to posterity. The mode adopted by the warrior to\ndeceive his opponent, was to stuff, as true to nature as possible, with\nunslaked lime, the skin of a freshly killed calf, which he laid before\nthe dragon's cave. The monster, smelling the skin, is said to have\nrushed out and instantly to have swallowed the fatal repast, and feeling\nafterwards, as may be readily expected, a most insatiable thirst,\nhurried off to a neighbouring stream, where he drank until the water,\nacting upon the lime, caused him to burst. The inhabitants, on learning\nthe joyful news, carried the knight and the Lindwurm in triumph into the\ncity of Bruenn, where they have ever since treasured up the memento of\ntheir former tyrant. The animal, or reptile, thus preserved, is\nundoubtedly of the crocodile or alligator species, although I regret it\nwas not in my power to examine it more particularly, evening having set\nin when I saw it in the arched passage leading to the town-hall of the\ncity where it has been suspended. I fear also that any attempt to count\nthe distinguishing bones would be fruitless, the scaly back having been\ncovered with a too liberal supply of pitch, with the view to protection\nfrom the weather.\n\nHave any of your readers seen this _Lindwurm_ under more favourable\ncircumstances than myself, and can they throw any light on the genus to\nwhich it belongs?\n\nMay not the various legends respecting dragons, &c., have their origin\nfrom similar circumstances to those of this Bruenn Lindwurm, which I take\nto leave strong proof of fact, the body being there? Perhaps some of our\ncorrespondents may have it in their power to give further corroborative\nevidence of the former existence of dragons under the shape of\ncrocodiles. The description of the Wantley dragon tallies with that of\nthe crocodile very nearly.\n\nR.S., Jun.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nJOAN SANDERSON, OR THE CUSHION DANCE; AND BAB AT THE BOWSTER.\n\nCan any of your numerous valuable correspondents give me the correct\ndate, or any clue to it, of the above dance. There is little doubt of\nits great antiquity. The dance is begun by a single person (either a\nwoman or man), who {518} dances about the room with a cushion in his\nhand, and at the end of the tune stops and sings:\n\n    \"This dance it will no further go!\"\n\n            [_The Musician answers._]\n\n    \"I pray you, good sir, why say you so?\"\n\n                     [_Man._]\n\n    \"Because Joan Sanderson will not come to!\"\n\n                   [_Music._]\n\n    \"She must come to, and she shall come to,\n     And she must come whither she will or no.\"\n\nHe now lays down the cushion before a woman, on which she kneels, and he\nkisses her, singing:\n\n    \"Welcome, Joan Sanderson, welcome, welcome.\"\n\nShe rises with the cushion, and both dance about, singing:\n\n    \"Prinkum-prankum is a fine dance,\n     And shall we go dance it once again,\n           And once again,\n     And shall we go dance it once again?\"\n\nThen making a stop, the woman sings, as before:\n\n    \"This dance it will no further go!\"\n\n                    [_Music._]\n\n    \"I pray you, madam, why say you so?\"\n\n                   [_Woman._]\n\n    \"Because John Sanderson will not come to.\"\n\n                   [_Music._]\n\n    \"He must come to,\" &c.\n\nAnd so she lays down the cushion before a man, who, kneeling, upon it,\nsalutes her, she singing:\n\n    \"Welcome, John Sanderson,\" &c.\n\nThen, he taking up the cushion, they take hands, and dance round,\nsinging as before: and this they do till the whole company is taken into\nthe ring. Then the cushion is laid down before the first man, the woman\nsinging, \"This dance,\" &c. (as before), only instead of \"Come to,\" they\nsing \"Go fro,\" and instead of \"Welcome, John Sanderson,\" &c., they sing,\n\"Farewell, John Sanderson, farewell,\" &c.: and so they go out, one by\none, as they came in. This dance was at one time highly popular, both at\ncourt and in the cottage, in the latter of which, in some remote country\nvillages, it is still danced. Selden, in his _Table Talk_, thus refers\nto it:\n\n    \"The court of England is much altered. At a solemn dancing, first\n    you have the grave measures, then the _Corvantoes_ and the\n    _Galliards_, and this is kept up with ceremony, at length to\n    Trenchmore and the Cushion dance; and then all the company dance,\n    lord and groom, lady and kitchen-maid, no distinction. (Would our\n    fair Belgravians of 1850 condescend to dance with their\n    kitchen-maids?) So in our court in Queen Elizabeth's time, gravity\n    and state were kept up. In King James's time, things were pretty\n    well. But in King Charles's time there has been nothing but\n    Trenchmore and the Cushion dance,\" &c.\n\nI shall also feel obliged for the date of _Bab at the Bowster_, or _Bab\nin the Bowster_, as it is called in Scotland. Jamieson, in his\n_Dictionary_, describes it as a very old Scottish dance, and generally\nthe last danced at weddings and merry-makings. It is now danced with a\nhandkerchief in place of a cushion; and no words are used. That a rhyme\nwas formerly used, there is little doubt. Query, What were the words of\nthis rhyme?\n\nMAC.\n\nCharminster.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nDID BUNYAN KNOW HOBBES?\n\nI observe a querist wishes to know the artist of the portrait of Bunyan\nprefixed to his works. I can only myself conjecture Cooper, the\nminiature painter, but I am also curious about the great author of _The\nPilgrim's Progress_.\n\nFirst, is Bunyan really the author of \"Heart's Ease in Heart's Trouble,\"\nand the \"Visions of Heaven and Hell,\" published in his works, and\nperhaps, excepting \"Grace Abounding,\" the most popular of his received\nmiscellanies? I think not. My reasons are these. The style is very\ndifferent, and much poorer than his best works. In the \"Progress,\" when\nhe quotes Latin, he modestly puts a side-note [The Latin that _I\nborrow_]. In the two tracts mentioned he flashes out a bit of Latin two\nor three times where he might have much better used English, or in a\nsuperfluous way. Also it is curious to know that in his \"Visions of\nHell\" he meets Leviathan Hobbes, the philosopher of Malmesbury. The\npassage is curious, for if true, and written by Bunyan, it proves him to\nbe personally acquainted with Hobbes. I extract it. After hearing his\nname called out, Epenetus (the author and visitant of the infernal\nregions) naturally inquires who it is that calls him. He is answered,--\n\n    \"I was once well acquainted with you on earth, and had almost\n    persuaded you to be of my opinion. I am the author of that\n    celebrated book, so well known by the title of _Leviathan_!\n\n    \"'What! the great Hobbes,' said I, 'are you come hither? _Your voice\n    is so much changed, I did not know it._'\"\n\nThe dialogue which ensues is not worth quoting, as it is from our\npurpose. But I would ask when was the time when Bunyan \"was nearly\npersuaded to be of Hobbes' opinion?\" If he is the author and speaks the\ntruth (and he is notoriously truthful), it must have been in early\nyouth; but surely the philosopher of Malmesbury could not know an\nobscure tinker. Bunyan cannot speak metaphorically, for he had not read\nthe _Leviathan_, since he mentions that his only reading in early life,\n_i.e._ when he was likely to have embraced freethinking, was the\n_Practice of Piety_, and the _Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven_, his wife's\ndowry. {519} Moreover, he notes particularly the _change of voice_, a\ncurious circumstance, which testifies personal acquaintance. Hobbes died\nin 1679; Bunyan in 1688. Were they intimate?\n\nJAS. H. FRISWELL.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nMinor Queries.\n\n_Boiling to Death._--Some of your correspondents have communicated\ninstances where burning to death was inflicted as a punishment; and\nMR. GATTY suggests that it would prove an interesting subject\nfor inquiry, at what period such barbarous inflictions ceased. In Howe's\n_Chronicle_ I find the two following notices:\n\n    \"The 5th of Aprill (1532) one Richard Rose, a cooke, was boiled in\n    Smithfielde, for poisoning of divers persons, to the number of\n    sixteen or more, at ye Bishop of Rochester's place, amongst the\n    which Benet Curwine, gentleman, was one, and hee intended to have\n    poisoned the bishop himselfe, but hee eate no potage that day,\n    whereby hee escaped. Marie the poore people that eate of them, many\n    of them died.\"--Howe's _Chronicle_, p. 559.\n\n    \"The 17th March (1542) Margaret Dany, a maid, was boiled in\n    Smithfield for poisoning of three households that shee had dwelled\n    in.\"--Howe's _Chronicle_, p. 583.\n\nQuery, was this punishment peculiar to cooks guilty of poisoning? And\nwhen did the latest instance occur?\n\nL.H.K.\n\n\n_Meaning of \"Mocker.\"_--To-day I went into the cottage of an old man, in\nthe village of which I am curate, and finding him about to cut up some\nwood, and he being very infirm, I undertook the task for him, and\nchopped up a fagot for his fire.\n\nDuring the progress of my work, the old fellow made the following\nobservation:--\n\n    \"Old Nannie Hawkins have got a big stick o' wood, and she says as I\n    shall have him for eight pence. If I could get him, I'd soon\n    _mocker_ him.\"\n\nUpon my asking him the meaning of the word _mocker_, he informed me it\nmeant to _divide_ or _cleave in pieces;_ but, not being \"a scholar\" as\nhe termed it, he could not tell me how to spell it, so I know not\nwhether the orthography I have adopted is correct or not.\n\nCan any of your readers give me a clue to the derivation of this word? I\ncertainly never heard it before.\n\nI ought perhaps to state, that this is a country parish in\nHerefordshire.\n\nW.M.\n\nPembridge, Dec. 16.\n\n\n_\"Away, let nought to love displeasing\"._--Is it known who was the\nauthor of the song to be found in Percy's _Reliques_, and many other\ncollections, beginning--\n\n    \"Away, let nought to love displeasing.\"\n\nThe first collection, so far as I know, in which it appears is entitled\n_Miscellaneous Poems by several Hands_, published by D. Lewis, London,\n1726; and in this work it is called a translation from the ancient\nBritish. Does this mean a translation of an ancient poem, or a\ntranslation of a poem written in some extant dialect of the language\nanciently spoken in Britain? Either would appear to me incredible.\n\nAs I feel much interested in the poetry of English songs, can you or any\nof your correspondents inform me if there exists any _good_ collection;\nthat is, a collection, of such only as are excellent of their respective\nkinds? That the English language possesses materials for forming such a\ncollection, and an extensive one too, I have no doubt, though I have\nnever met with one. And, if there be none that answers the description I\ngive, I should be glad of information respecting the best that exist.\n\nIt is scarcely necessary to add, that my standard of excellence would\nadmit only those which bore the character of \"immortal verse,\" rejecting\nsuch as had been saved merely by the music to which they had been\n\"married.\"\n\nSAMUEL HICKSON.\n\nDec. 14. 1850.\n\n\n_Baron Muenchausen._--Who was the author of this renowned hero's\nadventures? The _Conversations-Lexicon_ (art. _Muenchausen_) states that\nthe stories are to be found under the title of \"Mendacia Ridicula,\" in\nvol. iii. of _Deliciae Academicae_, by J.P. Lange (Heilbronn, 1665); and\nthat \"at a later period they appeared in England, where a reviewer\nsupposed them to be a satire on the ministry.\" I remember to have read\nwhen a boy (I think in _The Percy Anecdotes_), that the book was written\nby an Englishman who was styled \"M----,\" and was described as having\nbeen long a prisoner in the Bastille.\n\nSince writing thus far I have seen the note by J.S. (Vol. ii., pp.\n262-3.) on Muenchausen's story of the horn. The idea of sounds frozen in\nthe air, and thawed by returning warmth, was no invention of \"Castilian,\nin his _Aulicus_\" (_i.e._ Castiglione, author of _Il Cortegiano_); for,\nbesides that, it is found in his contemporary Rabelais (liv. iv. cc.\n55-6), I believe it may be traced to one of the later Greek writers,\nfrom whom Bishop Taylor, in one of his sermons, borrows it as an\nillustration.\n\nJ.C.R.\n\n\n_\"Sing Tantararara Rogues all,\" &c._--The above is the chorus of many\nsatirical songs written to expose the malpractices of peculators, &c.\nCan any of your readers point out who was the author of the _original\nsong_, and where it is to be found?\n\nA SUBSCRIBER.\n\n\n_Meaning of \"Cauking.\"_--An old dame told me the other day, in Cheshire,\nthat her servant was a {520} good one, and among other good qualities\n\"she never went _cauking_ into the neighbours' houses.\" Unde derivatur\n\"cauking?\"\n\nCHAS. PASLAM.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nREPLIES.\n\nTHE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM.\n\n(Vol. ii., p. 476.)\n\nThe proverb, \"As wise as the men of Gotham.\" is given in Fuller's\n_Worthies_ (ed. 1662, pp. 315, 316.). Ray, in his note upon this,\nobserves\n\n    \"It passeth for the _Periphrasis_ of a fool, and an hundred\n    fopperies are feigned and fathered on the townsfolk of _Gotham_, a\n    village in this county [Nottinghamshire]. Here two things may be\n    observed:\n\n    \"1. Men in all ages have made themselves merry with singling out\n    some place, and fixing the staple of stupidity and solidity therein.\n    So the _Phrygians_ in _Asia_, the _Abderitae_ in _Thrace_, and\n    _Boeotians_ in _Greece_, were notorious for dulmen and blockheads.\n\n    \"2. These places thus slighted and scoffed at, afforded some as\n    witty and wise persons as the world produced. So _Democritus_ was an\n    _Abderite_, _Plutarch_ a _Boeotian_, &c.\n\n    \"As for _Gotham_, it doth breed as wise people as any which\n    causelessly laugh at their simplicity. Sure I am _Mr. William de\n    Gotham_, fifth Master of _Michael House_ in _Cambridge_, 1336, and\n    twice Chancellor of the University, was as grave a governor as that\n    age did afford.\"--3d. ed. p. 258.\n\nIn Thoroton's _Nottinghamshire_, vol. i. pp. 42, 43., the origin of the\nsaying, as handed down by tradition, is thus given:--King John intending\nto pass through this place towards Nottingham, was prevented by the\ninhabitants, they apprehending that the ground over which a king passed\nwas for ever after to become a public road. The king, incensed at their\nproceedings, sent from his court, soon afterwards, some of his servants\nto inquire of them the reason of their incivility and ill-treatment,\nthat he might punish them. The villagers hearing of the approach of the\nking's servants, thought of an expedient to turn away his majesty's\ndispleasure from them. When the messengers arrived at Gotham, they found\nsome of the inhabitants engaged in endeavouring to drown an eel in a\npool of water; some were employed in dragging carts upon a large barn,\nto shade the wood from the sun; and others were engaged in hedging a\ncuckoo, which had perched itself upon an old bush. In short, they were\nall employed upon some foolish way or other, which convinced the king's\nservants that it was a village of fools.\n\nShould J.R.M. not yet have seen it, I beg to refer him to Mr.\nHalliwell's interesting edition of _The Merry Tales of the Wise Men of\nGotham_ (Lond. 1840) for fuller and further particulars.\n\nJ.B. COLMAN.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nReplies To Minor Queries.\n\n_Master John Shorne_.--As neither MR. THOMS' Notes (Vol. ii.,\np. 387.) nor MR. WAY'S (p. 450.) mention where this reputed\nsaint lived, or speak of him as connected with Buckinghamshire, I will\noffer an extract from Lysons in the hope of casting some little light on\nthe subject.\n\n    \"North Marston.--The church is a handsome Gothic structure; there is\n    a tradition that the chancel was built with the offerings at the\n    shrine of Sir John Shorne, a very devout man, of great veneration\n    with the people, who was rector of North Marston about the year\n    1290, and it is said that the place became populous and flourishing\n    in consequence of the great resort of persons to a well which he had\n    blessed. This story stands upon a better foundation than most vulgar\n    traditions; the great tithes of North Marston are still appropriated\n    to the dean and canons of Windsor, who, before the Reformation,\n    might without difficulty have rebuilt the chancel, as it is very\n    probable they did, with the offerings at the shrine of Sir John\n    Shorne, for we are told that they were so productive, that on an\n    average they amounted to 500l. per annum.[1] Sir John Shorne,\n    therefore, although his name is not to be found, appears to have\n    been a saint of no small reputation. The common people in the\n    neighbourhood still keep up his memory by many traditional stories.\n    Browne Willis, says, that in his time there were people who\n    remembered a direction-post standing, which pointed the way to Sir\n    John Shorne's shrine.\"[2]\n\nNorth Marston, formerly Merston, is about four miles from Winslow. I\nvisited it about a year ago, and drank of the well, or spring, which is\nabout a quarter of a mile from the village; but I know nothing of the\ntraditions alluded to by Lysons. The chancel of the church is a fine\nspecimen of perpendicular style, with a vestry of the same date, and of\ntwo stories, with a fireplace in each. I do not find North Marston, in\nBucks, mentioned in Leland, Camden, or Defoe, nor can I meet with any\naccount of Sir John Shorne in any books of English saints within my\nreach. A copy of Browne Willis's MSS. may be seen in the British Museum.\n\nW.H.K.\n\n[Footnote 1: _History of Windsor_, p. 111.]\n\n[Footnote 2: B. Willis's MSS., Bodleian Library.]\n\n\nFor the information of those who may not have the _Norfolk Archaeology_\nto refer to, let me add that John Shorne appears to have been rector of\nNorth Marston, in Buckinghamshire, about the year 1290, \"and was held in\ngreat veneration for his virtues, which his benediction had imparted to\na holy well in his parish, and for his miracles, one of which, _the feat\nof conjuring the devil into a boot_, was considered so remarkable that\nit was represented in the east window of his church.\"\n\nE.S.T.\n\n\n_Antiquity of Smoking._--The passage is in Herodian. In the time of\nCommodus there was a {521} pestilence in Italy. The emperor went to\nLaurentum for the benefit of the smell of the laurel trees.\n\n    \"In ipsa quoque urbe de medicorum sententia plerique unguentis\n    suavissimus nares atque aures opplebant, suffituque[3] et\n    odoramentis assidua utebantur, quod meatus sensuum (ut quidem\n    dicunt) odoribus illis occupati, neque admittant aera tabificum: et\n    si maxime admiserint, tamen eum majore quasi vi longe superari.\"\n\nThis has nothing to do with the practice of smoking, nor is it clear\nthat they smoked these things with a pipe into the mouth at all. The\nmedical use of fumigation, as Sir William Temple observes, was greatly\nesteemed among the ancients. But it is very probable that, being\nsometimes practised by means of pipes, it was what led to the practice\nof smoking constantly, either for general medical protection, or merely\nfor luxury, in countries and times too, when these epidemics from bad\nair were very common. The great love of smoking among the Turks may be\noriginally owing to the plague.\n\nC.B.\n\n[Footnote 3: [Greek: \"thumiamasi te kai aromasi sunechos echronto.\"]]\n\n\n_Antiquity of Smoking_ (Vol. ii., pp. 41. 216. 465.).--Mr. Lane, in his\nedition of the _Arabian Nights_, infers the very late date of that book\nfrom there being no mention of tobacco or coffee in it.\n\nAs two of the ancient authorities have broken down, it occurred to me\nthat others might.\n\nThe reference to Strabo, vii. 296. leads me only to this; that the\nMysians were called [Greek: kapnobatai] (some correct to [Greek:\nkapnopatai]) because they did not eat animals, but milk, cheese, and\nhoney; but of religion, living quietly.\n\nOne cannot imagine that this can be meant. I referred to Almaloveen's\nedition, the old paging.\n\nIn the next page he repeats the epithet, coupling it, as before, with\nthe word religious, and arguing from both as having the same meaning.\n\nIt occurred to me that somebody might have read [Greek: kapnopotai],\n\"fumum bibentes,\" which might have given occasion to the reference to\nthis passage: and I find in the English Passow that [Greek: kapnobotai],\n\"smoke-eaters,\" has been proposed.\n\n[Greek: Kapnopatai], is there derived from [Greek: paomai].\n\nBut if these are the readings, they can have nothing to do with smoking,\nbut with religion. From the context they would mean as we say, \"living\non air;\" like Democritus, who subsisted three days upon the steam of new\nloaves.\n\n[Greek: Kapnobatai] meant, as I believe, to describe their religiousness\nmore directly; treading on the clouds, living _in_ the air: like\nSocrates in Aristophanes, [Greek: Neph]. 225.:\n\n    [Greek: \"Aerobato kai periphrono ton helion,\"]\n\nAnd in v. 330. [Greek: kapnos] is used of the clouds:\n\n    [Greek: \"Ma Di all homichlen kai droson autas hegoumen kai kapnon\n    einai.\"]\n\nThere is nothing in Solinus, cap. 15.; and Mela, lib. ii., is too wide a\nreference.\n\nC.B.\n\n\n_Meaning of the Word \"Thwaites\"_(Vol. ii., p. 441.).--The word \"Thwayte\"\noccurred in the ancient form of the Bidding Prayer: \"Ye shalle byddee\nfor tham, that this cherche honour with book, with bell, with\nvestiments, with _Thwayte_,\" &c. This form is said to be above four\nhundred years old; and Palmer says (_Orig. Lit._, iii. p. 60.) that we\nhave memorials of these prayers used in England in the fourteenth\ncentury. Hearne remarks that the explication of this word warranted by\nSir E. Coke is \"a wood grubbed up and turned to arable.\" This land being\ngiven to any church, the donors were thus commended by the prayers of\nthe congregation.\n\nIn Yorkshire the word is so understood: Thwaite, or \"stubbed ground,\nground that has been essarted or cleaned.\"\n\nJ.H.M.\n\n\n_Meaning of \"Thwaites\"_ (Vol. ii., p. 441.).--Hearne took the word\n\"Thwayte\" to signify \"a wood grubbed up and turned into arable.\" His\nexplanation, with other suggestions as to the meaning, of this word, may\nbe found in a letter from Hearne to Mr. Francis Cherry, printed in vol.\ni. p. 194. of _Letters written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and\nEighteenth Centuries_, published by Longman and Co. in 1813.\n\nJ.P. JR.\n\nDecember 5. 1850.\n\n\n_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--Your correspondent\nS.G. will find a brief notice of this person in Rose's _Biographical\nDictionary_, London, 1848. It appears he was rector of Horninger, and a\nfriend of Camden; who prefixed some commendatory verses to a work of\nhis, entitled _The Anatomy of the Mind_. I would suggest to S.G. that\nfurther information may probably be collected respecting him from these\nverses, and from the prefaces, &c. of his other works, of which a long\nlist is given in Rose's _Dictionary_.\n\nT.H. KERSLEY, A.B.\n\nKing William's Col., Isle of Man.\n\n\n_Thomas Rogers of Horninger_ (Vol. ii., p 424.).--If S.G. will apply to\nthe Rev. J. Perowne, of his own college, who is understood to be\npreparing an edition of Rogers's work for the Parker Society, he will\ndoubtless obtain the fullest information.\n\nA.H.\n\n\n_Earl of Roscommon_ (Vol. ii., p. 468.).--A pretended copy of the\ninscription at Kilkenny West, mentioned by your correspondent AN\nHIBERNIAN, was produced in evidence, on the claim of Stephen\nFrancis Dillon to the earldom of Roscommon, before the House of Lords.\nAs there was reason to doubt the evidence of the person who produced\nthat copy, or the genuineness of the inscription itself, the House\ndecided against that claim; and by admitting that of the late earl\n(descended {522} from the youngest son of the first earl) assumed\nthe extinction of all the issue of the six elder sons. The\nevidence adduced altogether negatived the presumption of any such\nissue. Your correspondents FRANCIS and AN HIBERNIAN will find a\nvery clear and succinct account of the late earl's claim, and Stephen\nFrancis Dillon's counter-claim, in _The Roscommon Claim of Peerage_, by\nJ. Sidney Tayler, Lond. 1829.\n\nW.H.C.\n\n\n_Parse_ (Vol. ii., p. 430.).--Your correspondent J.W.H. is far from\ncorrect in supposing that this word was not known in 1611, for he will\nfind it used by Roger Ascham, in a passage quoted by Richardson in his\n_Dictionary_ sub voce.\n\nIn Brinsley's curious _Ludus Literarius_, 1612, reprinted 1627, 4to.,\nthe word is frequently used. At page 69. he recommends the \"continual\npractice of _parsing_.\" At p. 319., enumerating the contents of chap.\nvi., we have \"The Questions of the Accidence, called the _Poasing_ of\nthe English Parts;\" and chap. ix. is \"Of _Parsing_ and the kinds\nthereof, &c.\"\n\nAt the end of a kind of introduction there is an \"Advertisement by the\nPrinter,\" intimating that the author's book, \"The _Poasing_ of the\nAccidence,\" is likely to come forth. From all this, it seems as if the\ntwo words were used indifferently.\n\nF.R.A.\n\n\n_The Meaning of \"Version\"_ (Vol. ii., p. 466.).--T. appears to apply a\npeculiar meaning of his own to the word \"version,\" which it would have\nbeen quite as well if he had explained in a glossarial note.\n\nHe thinks A.E.B. was _mistaken_ in using that phrase in reference to\nLord Bacon's translation into Latin of his own English original work,\nand he proceeds to compare (to what end does not very clearly appear) a\nsentence from Lord Bacon's English text, with the same sentence as\nre-translated back again from Lord Bacon's Latin by Wats. Finally, T.\nconcludes with this very singular remark: \"Wats' version is the more\nexact of the two!\"\n\nDoes T. mean to call Lord Bacon's English text a _version_ of his Latin,\nby anticipation of eighteen years?\n\nThe only other authority for such meaning of the word would seem to be\nthe facetious Dr. Prout, who accused Tom Moore of a similar _version_ of\nhis celebrated papers.\n\nA.E.B.\n\n\n_First Paper-mill in England_ (Vol. ii., p. 473).--The birthplace of the\n\"High Germaine Spilman\" (_Spielmann_), celebrated by Churchyard, your\nEnglish readers may not easily discover by his description as quoted by\nDR. RIMBAULT.\n\n\"Lyndoam Bodenze\" is _Lindau am Boden-see_, on the Lake of Constance (in\nGerman, _Bodensee_), once a free imperial city, called, from its site on\nthree islets in the lake, \"the Swabian Venice,\" now a pretty little town\nbelonging to the kingdom of _Bavaria_.\n\nV.\n\n\n\"_Torn by Horses_\" (Vol. ii., p. 480.).--This cruel death was suffered\nby _Ravaillac_, who accomplished what Jean Chatel failed in doing.\n\nThe execution took place on the 27th of May, 1610, with the most\natrocious severities of torture, of which the drawing by horses was but\nthe last out of a scene that continued for many hours. The day before he\nhad been racked to the very extremity of human suffering. The horses\ndragged at the wretch's body for an hour in vain; at length a nobleman\npresent sent one of his own, which was stronger; but this even would not\nsuffice. The executioner had to sever the mangled body with his knife,\nbefore the limbs would give way. I could add more of these details, but\nthe subject is intolerable.\n\nThe execution of _Ravaillac_ was followed with the utmost exactness, but\nwith more cruelty, if possible, in the case of _Damiens_ (sentenced for\nthe attempt on Louis le Bien-Aime), who suffered on the Place de Greve,\nMarch 28. 1757. The frightful business lasted from morning till dusk!\nHere again the knife was used before the body gave way, the horses\nhaving dragged at it for more than an hour first; the poor wretch\nliving, it is said, all the while!\n\nI believe this was the last instance of the punishment in France, if not\nin Europe.\n\nA concise summary of the trials of these men, and all the hideous\ndetails of their tortures and execution, will be found, by those who\nhave a taste for such things, in the third volume of the new series of\nthe _Neuer Pitaval_, edited by Hitzig and Haring (Leipzig,\nBrockhaus),--a collection of _causes celebres_ which has been in course\nof publication at intervals since 1842. The volume in question appeared\nin the present year (1850).\n\nV.\n\nBelgravia.\n\n\n_Vineyards_ (Vol. ii., p. 392.).--At Ingatestone Hall, in Essex, one of\nthe seats of Lord Petre, a part of the ground on the south side of the\nhouse still goes by the name of \"the Vineyard.\" And this autumn grapes\ncame to great perfection on the south wall.\n\nJ.A.D.\n\n\n_Cardinal_ (Vol. ii., p. 424.).--The expression referred to by O.P.Q.\nwas in some degree illustrated at the coronation of Edward II., 1308,\nwhen the Pope, wishing the ceremony to be performed by a cardinal, whom\nhe offered to send for the purpose, was strenuously opposed by the king,\nand compelled to withdraw his pretensions. (See Curtis's _History of\nEngland_, vol. ii. p. 309.)\n\nC.H.\n\nSt. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge.\n\n\n_Weights for weighing Coins_ (Vol. ii., p. 326.).--If the question of\nyour correspondent, who wishes to know at what period weights were\nintroduced {523} for weighing coins, is intended to have a general\nreference, he will find many passages alluding to the practice amongst\nthe ancient Romans, who manufactured balances of various kinds for that\npurpose: one for gold (_statera auraria_, Varro _Ap. Non._, p. 455., ed.\nMercer.; Cic. _Or._ ii. 38.); another for silver (Varro _De Vit. P.R._\nlib. ii.); and another for small pieces of money (_trutina momentana\npro parva modicaque pecunia._ Isidor. _Orig._, xvi. 25. 4.). The mint\nis represented on the reverse of numerous imperial coins and medals\nby three female figures, each of whom holds a pair of scales, one for\neach of the three metals; and in Rich's _Illustrated Companion to the\nLatin Dictionary_, under the word LIBRA, there is exhibited a balance\nof very peculiar construction, from an original in the cabinet of the\nGrand Duke at Florence, which has a scale at one end of the beam, and\na fixed weight at the opposite extremity, \"to test the just weight of\na given quantity, and supposed to have been employed at the mint for\nestimating the proper weight of coinage.\"\n\nMONETA.\n\n\n_Umbrellas_ (Vol. i., p. 414. etc.).--To the extensive exhibition of\n_umbrellas_ formed through the exertions of the right worthy editor of\nthe \"NOTES AND QUERIES\" and his very numerous friends, I am happy to\nhave it in my power to make an addition of considerable curiosity, it\nbeing of much earlier date than any specimen at present in the\ncollection:--\n\n    \"Of doues I haue a dainty paire\n     Which, when you please to take the aier,\n     About your head shall gently houer,\n     Your cleere browe from the sunne to couer,\n     And with their nimble wings shall fan you\n     That neither cold nor heate shall tan you,\n     And, like _vmbrellas_, with their feathers\n     _Sheeld you in all sorts of weathers._\"\n                                _Michael Drayton, 1630_.\n\nHad not the exhibition been limited to umbrellas used in England, I\ncould have produced oriental specimens, very like those now in fashion\nhere, of the latter part of the sixteenth century.\n\nBOLTON CORNEY.\n\n\n_Croziers and Pastoral Staves_ (Vol. ii., p. 412.).--The staff with the\ncross appears on the monument of Abp. Warham, in Canterbury Cathedral;\non the brass of Abp. Waldeby (1397), in Westminster Abbey and on that of\nAbp. Cranley (1417), in New College Chapel, Oxford.\n\nThe crook is bent _outwards_ in the brasses to the following\nbishops:--Bp. Trellick (1360), Hereford Cathedral; Bp. Stanley (1515),\nManchester Cathedral; Bp. Goodrich (1554), Ely Cathedral; and Bp.\nPursglove (1579), Tideswell Church, Derbyshire.\n\nJ.I.D.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nMiscellaneous.\n\nNOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC.\n\nWe never longed so much for greater space for our Notes upon Books as we\ndo at this season of gifts and good will, when the Christmas Books\ndemand our notice.\n\nNever did writer pen a sweeter tale than that which the author of _Mary\nBarton_ has just produced under the title of _The Moorland Cottage_. It\nis a purely English story, true to nature as a daguerreotype, without\none touch of exaggeration, without the smallest striving after effect,\nyet so skilfully is it told, so effectually does it tell, so strongly do\nMaggie's trials and single-mindedness excite our sympathies, that it\nwere hard to decide whether our tears are disposed to flow the more\nreadily at those trials, or at her quiet heroic perseverance in doing\nright by which they are eventually surmounted. _The Moorland Cottage_\nwith its skilful and characteristic woodcut illustrations by Birket\nFoster, will be a favourite for many and many a Christmas yet to come.\n\nRich in all the bibliopolic \"pearl and gold\" of a quaint and fanciful\nbinding, glancing with holly berries and mistletoe, Mr. Bogue presents\nus with a volume as interesting as it is characteristic and elegant,\n_Christmas with the Poets_. A more elegantly printed book was never\nproduced; and it is illustrated with fifty engravings designed and drawn\non wood by Birket Foster; engraved by Henry Vizetelly, and printed in\ntints in a way to render most effective the artist's tasteful,\ncharacteristic, and very able drawings. The volume is, as it were, a\ncasket, in which are enshrined all the gems which could be dug out of\nthe rich mines of English poetry; and when we say that the first\ndivision treats of Carols from the Anglo-Norman period to the time of\nthe Reformation; that these are followed by Christmas Poems of the\nElizabethan period, by Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, and their great\ncotemporaries; that to these succeed Herrick's Poems, and so on, till we\nhave the Christmas verses of our own century, by Southey, Wordsworth,\nScott, Shelley, Tennyson, &c., we have done more than all our praise\ncould do, to prove that a fitter present to one who loves poetry could\nnot be found than _Christmas with the Poets_.\n\nWhile if it be a _little_ lover of poetry--mind, not one who little\nloves poetry, but one who listens with delight to those beloved ditties\nof the olden times, which as we know charmed Shakspeare's\nchildhood,--learn that an English lady, with the hand and taste of an\nartist, guided and refined by that purest and holiest of feelings, a\nmother's love, has illustrated those dear old songs in a way to delight\nall children; and at the same time charm the most refined. The\n_Illustrated Ditties of the Olden Time_ is in sooth a delightful volume,\nand if a love of the beautiful be as closely connected with a love of\nthe moral as wise heads tell us, we know no more agreeable way of early\ninculcating morality than by circulating this splendid edition of our\ntime-honoured Nursery Rhymes.\n\nBut we fancy the taste of some of our readers may not yet have been hit\nupon. Let them try _The Story of Jack and the Giants, illustrated by\nRichard Doyle_; and {524} they will find this wondrous story rendered\nstill more attractive by some thirty drawings, from the pencil of one\nof the most imaginative artists of the day, and whose artistic spirit\nseems to have revelled with delight as he pourtrayed the heroic\nachievements of \"the valiant Cornish man.\"\n\nWe will now turn to those works which are of a somewhat graver class;\nand we will begin with Miss Drury's able and well-written story,\nentitled _Eastbury_, in which the heavy trials of Beatrice Eustace,\nmitigated and eventually overcome through the friendship and\ntruthfulness of Julia Seymour, are told in a manner to delight all\nreaders of the class of tales to which _Eastbury_ belongs; and to\nsustain the reputation as a writer, which Miss Drury so deservedly\nacquired by her former story, _Friends and Fortune_.\n\nThe name of the Rev. Charles B. Tayler would alone have served as a\nsufficient warrant that _The Angel's Song, a Christmas Token_, is work\nof still more serious character, even though the author had not told his\nreaders, in his _Envoy_, that the tale was written to correct the\nmistake into which many well-meaning people have fallen on the subject\nof Christmas merriment; and to suggest the spirit in which this sacred\nseason should be celebrated. That the book will be favourably received\nby the large class of readers to whom it is addressed, there can be\nlittle doubt; and to their attention we accordingly commend it. It is\nvery tastefully got up.\n\nTo the publisher of _The Angel's Song_, Mr. Sampson Low, we are also\nindebted for a very stirring and interesting book, _The Whaleman's\nAdventures in the Southern Ocean_, edited by the Rev. Dr. Scoresby, from\nthe notes of a pious and observant American clergyman, whilst embarked,\non account of his health, on a whaling voyage to the South Seas and\nPacific Ocean. That Dr. Scoresby should think the matter of this work so\nfar novel and interesting, as well as \"calculated for conveying useful\nmoral impressions,\" renders it scarcely necessary to say another word in\nits recommendation. But it has a higher object than mere amusement; its\nobject is to enforce upon those \"who go down to the sea in ships,\" the\nduty of \"remembering the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.\"\n\nHere our editorial labours have been interrupted by a band of infant\ncritics to whose unprejudiced judgments we had entrusted _Peter Little\nand the Lucky Sixpence_,--each begging to be allowed to keep the book.\nGood reader, do you wish for better criticism? Worthy author of this\n_Verse Book for Children_, do you wish for higher praise?\n\nWe have received the following Catalogues:--John Petheram's (94. High\nHolborn) Catalogue, Part CXIX. No. 13. for 1850 of Old and New Books;\nBernard Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No.\n22. of English, French, German, and Italian Books; John Lyte's (498. New\nOxford Street) Book Catalogue for 1851.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nNotices To Correspondents.\n\n_Although we have enlarged our present Number to twenty-four pages, we\nare compelled to request the indulgence of our correspondents for the\nomission of many valuable communications._\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES _may be procured, by order, of all\nBooksellers and Newsvendors. It is published at noon on Friday, so that\nour country Subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in\nprocuring it regularly. Many of the country booksellers, &c., are,\nprobably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to\nreceive_ NOTES AND QUERIES _in their Saturday parcels._\n\n_Part XIV., for December, price 1s., is now ready for delivery._\n\nTHE INDEX TO VOLUME THE SECOND _will be ready early in\nJanuary._\n\n_Communications should be addressed to the Editor of_ NOTES AND\nQUERIES, _care of_ MR. BELL, No. 186. _Fleet Street_.\n\nE.A.D. _has our best thanks_.\n\n_Errata._--In No. 60. Vol. ii., p. 492, for [Gothic: \"Sant Valantinus\"]\nread [Gothic: \"sant Valentinus\"]. (The reference of Heinecken is _Idee\nd'une collect. d'Estampes_, p. 275.) For \"_Ind. Par_. i. 543.,\" read\n\"_Ind._ Par. i 343.\" For \"suppressed\" read \"supposed;\" and instead of\n\"De,\" before \"Vita,\" put [Symbol: capitulum].\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJust published, in a rich and novel binding, royal 8vo., price 25s.\n\nCHRISTMAS WITH THE POETS; a Collection of Songs, Carols, and Descriptive\nVerses, relating to the Festival of Christmas; with Introductory\nObservations explanatory of Obsolete Rites and Customs. Illustrated with\nupwards of Fifty highly-finished Wood Engravings, from Designs by BIRKET\nFOSTER, and printed in several tints, with Gold Borders, Initial\nLetters, and other Ornaments.\n\nDAVID BOGUE, Fleet Street.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE.--The First Number of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE\nfor 1851 is embellished by a Portrait of the late THOMAS AMYOT,\nEsq., Treasurer of the Society of Antiquaries, accompanied with Memoirs\nwritten by two of his most intimate friends. A second Plate represents a\nvery highly ornamented Roman Sword recently discovered near Mayence.\nThis Number also contains THE STORY OF NELL GWYN, Chapter 1.,\nby PETER CUNNINGHAM, Esq., F.S.A., being the commencement of an\nOriginal Work, which will be continued periodically in the Magazine.\nAlso, among other Articles, The Unpublished Diary of John First Earl of\nEgmont, Part III.; Farindon and Owen, the Divines of the Cavalier and\nRoundhead; Notes of an Antiquarian Tour on the Rhine, by C. ROACH\nSMITH, Esq., F.S.A.; Milton and the Adamo Caduto of Salandra; the\nBarons of London and the Cinque Ports; Effigy of a Notary (with an\nEngraving), &c. &c. Reviews of Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of\nScotland; Vols. V. and VI. of Southey's Life, &c. &c. With Literary and\nAntiquarian Intelligence; Historical Chronicle; and Obituary, including\nMemoirs of the Marchioness Cornwallis. Lord Nugent, Rt. Hon. Sir W. H.\nFremantle, Mr. Raphael, Mrs. Bell Martin, &c. &c., Price 2s. 6d.\n\nNICHOLS AND SON, 25. Parliament Street.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE LONDON HOMOEOPATHIC HOSPITAL, 32. Golden Square. Founded by the\nBRITISH HOMOEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION.\n\n  Patron: H.R.H. THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE.\n  Vice-Patron: HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G.\n  President: F.M. THE MARQUIS OF ANGLESEY, K.G. K.C.B.\n  Chairman: CULLING C. SMITH, ESQ.\n  Treasurer: JOHN DEAN PAUL, Esq., 217. Strand.\n\nThis Hospital is open every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday,\nat 2 o'clock, for the reception of Out-patients without Letters of\nRecommendation. In-Patients admitted every Tuesday at 3 o'clock upon\nthe Recommendation of a Governor or Subscribers.\n\nSubscriptions to the Hospital Funds will be thankfully received by the\nBankers, Messrs. Strahan and Co., Strand, and Messrs. Prescott and Co.,\nThreadneedle Street, and by\n\nRALPH BUCHAM. Honorary Secretary, 32. 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DE LA MOTTE,\n_Bound in Velvet, price Twelve Guineas_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nA CATALOGUE OF ENGLISH ART-MANUFACTURES, selected for their Beauty of\nDesign, with about 150 Engravings of Articles of Use and Ornament for\nthe Breakfast Table, Dinner Table, Drawing-Room, Library, in Pottery,\nCarved Wood, Glass, and Metal. 4to. Price 1s. in Wrapper, or 1s.\n4d. per Post.\n\nTHE ART-CIRCULAR.--A Monthly Record of Illustrated Literature and Art\nManufactures. With Eight or Ten Illustrations. Issued on the\nTwenty-first of every Month. Price of each Number, 2d.; or Stamped for\nPost, 3d.\n\n(This work will be forwarded, Post free, 3s. per annum.)\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLONDON: CUNDALL AND ADDEY, 21. OLD BOND STREET.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Now ready, fcap. 8vo., price 7s. 6d.,_\n\nA THIRD SERIES OF\n\nPLAIN SERMONS,\n\nADDRESSED TO A COUNTRY CONGREGATION.\n\nBy the LATE REV. 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FLEET STREET.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{526}\n\nPRICE THREE PENCE.\n\n_After the 1st of January, 1851_,\n\nTHE LITERARY GAZETTE\n\nWILL BE EXCLUSIVELY DEVOTED TO\n\nREVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS\n\nAND LITERARY VARIETIES.\n\nOrders and Advertisements will be received by\n\nMESSRS. REEVE AND BENHAM, 5. HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMILLER'S CATALOGUE OF BOOKS FOR JANUARY, 1851, will be ready on NEW\nYEAR'S DAY. To be had GRATIS on application. It will also appear in the\nNumber of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for that Month.\n\nBALLAD ROMANCES, by R.H. HORNE, Esq., Author of\n\"ORION,\" &c.--Containing the Noble Heart, a Bohemian Legend;\nThe Monk of Swinstead Abbey, a Ballad Chronicle of the Death of King\nJohn; The Three Knights of Camelott, a Fairy Tale; The Ballad of Delora,\nor the Passion of Andrea Como; Red Gelert, a Welsh Legend; Ben Capstan,\na Ballad of the Night Watch; The Elf of the Woodlands, a Child's Story.\nFcap. 8vo. elegantly printed and bound in cloth, 248 pages, only 2s. 6d.\n\n\"Pure fancy of the most abundant and picturesque description. Mr. Horne\nshould write us more Fairy Tales; we know none to equal him since the\ndays of Drayton and Herrick.\"--_Examiner_.\n\n\"The opening poem in this volume is a fine one; it is entitled the\n'Noble Heart,' and not only in title, but in treatment, well imitates\nthe style of Beaumont and Fletcher.\"--_Athenaeum_.\n\nCRITICISMS AND ESSAYS on the Writings of Atherstone, Blair, Bowles, Sir\nE. Brydges, Carlyle, Carrington, Coleridge, Cowper, Croly, Gillfillan,\nGraham, Hazlitt, Heber, Heraud, Harvey, Irving, Keats, Miller, Pollock,\nTighe, Wordsworth, and other Modern Writers, by the Rev. J.W. LESTER,\nB.A. Royal 8vo. 100 pages of closely printed letterpress, originally\npublished at 5s., reduced to 1s. 3d.\n\n\"We give our cordial subscription to the general scope and tenor of his\nviews, which are in the main promulgated with a perspicuity and\neloquence not always found in the same individual.\"--_Church of England\nQuarterly Review_.\n\n\"Mr. Lester's volume is one of superior merit, and deserves a high rank\namong works of its class.\"--_Tait's Edinburgh Review_.\n\n\"He is the pioneer of the beautiful.\"--_Manchester Examiner_.\n\nJOHN MILLER, 43. Chandos Street, Trafalgar Square.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMR. L.A. LEWIS, AUCTIONEER OF LITERARY PROPERTY, established 1825, 125.\nFleet Street, London, will have Sales by Auction of Libraries, Small\nParcels of Books, Prints, Pictures, and Miscellaneous Effects, every\nFriday throughout the Year 1851. Property sent in on the previous\nSaturday will be certain to be sold (if required) on the following\nFriday. Dec. 1850.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGUTCH'S SCIENTIFIC POCKET-BOOK, Now ready, price 3s. 6d. roan tuck.\n\nLITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC REGISTER AND ALMANACK for 1851, with an ample\nCollection of Useful Statistical and Miscellaneous Tables, Facts, and\nFormulae, in Acoustics, Aerial Phenomena, Agriculture, Anatomy,\nArchitecture, Astronomy, Chemistry, Gardening, Geography, Geology,\nHydraulics, Mechanics, Optics, &c. &c., with a complete Index.\nDedicated, by special Permission, to PRINCE ALBERT. By J.W.G.\nGUTCH, M.R.C.S.L., F.L.S. 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BOGUE, Fleet Street, and all Booksellers.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nRICHARDS'S UNIVERSAL DAILY REMEMBRANCER for 1851 is now ready, and may\nbe had of all Booksellers and Stationers, comprising a correct Diary of\nMemoranda, Appointments, &c., and much authentic and useful Information.\nIn various forms, adapted to the use of Attorneys, the Clergy,\nMerchants, Tradesmen, Travellers, and generally serviceable to all\nPersons of Business.\n\nRICHARDS, 100 St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFAMILY AND HISTORICAL PORTRAITS.--G.P. HARDING, having acquired\nthe Art of faithfully making copies in Water Colours of Ancient and\nModern Portraits, and having in his possession a large Collection of\nthem, will he happy to treat with any Noblemen and Gentlemen wishing to\nadd to their series of Ancestral Portraits. MR. HARDING having\nvisited more than Three hundred of the principal Mansions in the country\nto make himself acquainted with what Pictures are contained in them, is\nenabled to point out where Portraits are to be obtained. G.P.\nHARDING also restores Ancient Missals, and Miniatures, having\nhad much experience in that Branch of Art.\n\nG.P. HARDING, 69. Hercules Buildings, near the Palace, Lambeth.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{527}\n\nNEW PUBLICATIONS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n                           I.\n\nProfessor Potter's Treatise on Optics Part II. [Now ready.\n\n                          II.\n\nRobson's First Latin Reading Lessons. 2s. 6d.\n\n                         III.\n\nLatham's English Language. Third Edition. 15s.\n\n                          IV.\n\nLatham's English Grammar. Fifth Edition. 4s. 6d.\n\n                           V.\n\nGriesbach's Greek Testament. New Edition 6s. 6d.\n\n                          VI.\n\nBaron Reichenbach on Magnetism. By Dr. Gregory 12s. 6d. [The only\nauthorised Edition.\n\n                         VII.\n\nThe Economy of Railways. By Dr. Lardner. 12s. 6d.\n\n                        VIII.\n\nLiebig, Koup and Hoffmann's Progress of Chemistry and the ALLIED\nSCIENCES for 1847 and 1848. 2 vols. 1l. 12s.\n\nHISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, ANTIQUITIES, &c.\n\n                           I.\n\nDictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Edited by Dr. SMITH.\nMedium 8vo. 500 Illustrations 2l. 2s.\n\n                          II.\n\nDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MYTHOLOGY. Edited by Dr.\nSMITH. 560 Illustration. 3 vols. 8vo. 5l. 15s. 6d.\n\n                         III.\n\nDr. Schmitz's History of Rome. Second Edition. 12mo. 7s. 6d.\n\n                          IV.\n\nNiebuhr's Lectures on the History of Rome. By Dr. SCHMITZ.\nSecond and Cheaper Edition. 3 vols. 8vo. 24s.\n\n                           V.\n\nNiebuhr's History of Rome. 3 vols. 8vo. 2l. 10s. 6d.\n\n                          VI.\n\nGuesses at Truth. By Two Brothers. 2 vols. Fcap. 8vo. 13s.\n\n                         VII.\n\nClassical Museum. Complete in 7 vols. 8vo. 4l. 17s. 6d. cloth.\n\n                        VIII.\n\nChronological Tables of Greek and Roman History. 8vo. 5s.\n\n                          IX.\n\nAkerman's Numismatic Manual. 8vo. 1l. 1s.\n\n                           X.\n\nHurwitz's Hebrew Grammar. Third Edition. 8vo. 13s.\n\n                          XI.\n\n\nDescriptive Catalogues of Scientific and Literary Works, and of School\nBooks, published by Taylor, Walton and Maberly, may be had on\napplication.\n\nDIARIES AND JOURNALS FOR THE NEW YEAR.\n\n                           I.\n\nThe Private Diary for General Use. Arranged, printed and ruled for an\nAccount of each Day's Employment for one Year. Post 8vo. strongly\nhalf-bound, 4s. 6d.\n\n                          II.\n\nThe Student's Journal, formed on the Plan of the \"Private Diary.\" Post\n8vo. strongly half-bound, 4s. 6d.\n\n                         III.\n\nThe Literary Diary; or, Complete Common Place BOOK, with Locke's Index.\nPost 4to. ruled throughout and strongly half-bound. 12s.\n\n                          IV.\n\nA Pocket Common Place Book, with Locke's Index. Post 8vo. strongly\nhalf-bound, 8s. 6d.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLondon: TAYLOR, WALTON, AND MABERLY, Upper Gower Street, and\nIvy Lane, Paternoster Row.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow Ready, with an elegant Frontispiece and Vignette, gilt edges, price\n1s.\n\nPETER LITTLE AND THE LUCKY SIXPENCE; THE FROG'S LECTURE; and other\nStories. A Verse Book for my Children and their Playmates.\nRIDGWAY, 169. Piccadilly; GEORGE BELL, 186. 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Piccadilly; and _by Order_ of all\nBooksellers.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nJOURNAL FRANCAIS, publie a Londres.--Le COURRIER de l'EUROPE, fonde en\n1840, paraissant le Samedi, donne dans chaque numero les nouvelles de la\nsemaine, les meilleurs articles de tous les journaux de Paris, la\nSemaine Dramatique par Th. Gautier ou J. Janin, la Revue de Paris par\nPierre Durand, et reproduit en entier les romans, nouvelles, etc., en\nvogue par les premiers ecrivains de France. Prix 6d.\n\nLondon: JOSEPH THOMAS, 1. Finch Lane.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFAC-SIMILES.\n\nASHBEE AND TUCKETT, LITHOGRAPHERS, &c., 18. Broad Court, Long Acre, beg\nrespectfully to draw Attention to their Establishment for the Execution\nof ANCIENT AND MODERN FAC-SIMILES, both Plain and in Colours,\ncomprising Autographs, Charters, Deeds, Drawings, Illuminations, Title\nPages, Woodcuts, &c., which they produce with the utmost fidelity and\nexactness, also without the slightest injury to the Original. Specimens\nmay be inspected at the Offices, or will be forwarded on Application.\n\nEvery Description of Plain and Ornamental LITHOGRAPHY executed\nwith the greatest attention and punctuality.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *{528}\n\nNEW WORKS IN GENERAL LITERATURE.\n\n                           I.\n\nMEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO (1440 to 1630). By JAMES\nDENNISTOUN, of Dennistoun. With numerous Portraits, Plates,\nFacsimiles, and Woodcuts. 3 vols. square crown 8vo. 2l. 8s.\n\n                          II.\n\nSIR ROGER DE COVERLEY. From \"The Spectator.\" With Notes, &c., by W.H.\nWILLIS; and Twelve fine Woodcuts from drawings by F.\nTAYLER. Crown 8vo. 15s.; morocco, 27s.\n\n                         III.\n\nMrs. JAMESON'S SACRED and LEGENDARY ART; or, LEGENDS of the SAINTS and\nMARTYRS. New Edition, complete in One Volume; with Etchings by the\nAuthor, and Woodcuts. Square crown 8vo. 28s.\n\n                          IV.\n\nMrs. JAMESON'S LEGENDS OF THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS, as represented in the\nFine Arts. With Etchings by the Author, and Woodcuts. Square crown 8vo.\n28s.\n\n                           V.\n\nTHE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS: a Description of the Primitive Church of\nRome. By CHARLES MAITLAND. New Edition, with Woodcuts. 8vo.\n14s.\n\n                          VI.\n\nMR. MACAULAY'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND, from the Accession of James II. New\nEdition. Vols. I. and II. 8vo. 32s.\n\n                         VII.\n\nJOHN COAD'S MEMORANDUM of the SUFFERINGS of the REBELS sentenced to\nTransportation by Judge Jeffreys. Square fcap. 8vo. 4s. 6d.\n\n                        VIII.\n\nAN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH ANTIQUITIES. Intended as a Companion to the\nHistory of England. By JAMES ECCLESTON. With many Wood\nEngravings. 8vo. 12s.\n\n                          IX.\n\nMr. A. RICH'S ILLUSTRATED COMPANION to the LATIN DICTIONARY and GREEK\nLEXICON. With about 2,000 Woodcuts, from the Antique. Post 8vo. 21s.\n\n                           X.\n\nMAUNDER'S TREASURY OF KNOWLEDGE and LIBRARY of REFERENCE: a Compendium\nof Universal Knowledge. New Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 10s.; bound 12s.\n\n                          XI.\n\nMAUNDER'S BIOGRAPHICAL TREASURY; a New Dictionary of Ancient and Modern\nBiography: comprising about 12,000 Memoirs. New Edition, with\nSupplement. Fcap. 8vo. 10s.; bound, 12s.\n\n                         XII.\n\nMAUNDER'S SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY TREASURY; a copious portable\nEncyclopaedia of Science and the Belles Lettres. New Edition. Fcap. 8vo.\n10s.; bound, 12s.\n\n                        XIII.\n\nMAUNDER'S HISTORICAL TREASURY: comprising an Outline of General History,\nand a separate History of every Nation. New Edition. Fcp. 8vo. 10s.;\nbound, 12s.\n\n                         XIV.\n\nMAUNDER'S TREASURY OF NATURAL HISTORY, or, a Popular Dictionary of\nAnimated Nature. New Edition; with 900 Woodcuts. Fcap. 8vo. 10s.;\nbound, 12s.\n\n                          XV.\n\nSOUTHEY'S COMMON-PLACE BOOK. FIRST SERIES--CHOICE PASSAGES, &c.\nSECOND EDITION, with Medallion Portrait. Square crown 8vo. 18s.\n\n                         XVI.\n\nSOUTHEY'S COMMON-PLACE BOOK. SECOND SERIES--SPECIAL\nCOLLECTIONS. Edited by the REV. J.W. WARTER, B.D., the Author's\nSon-in-Law. Square crown 8vo. 18s.\n\n                        XVII.\n\nSOUTHEY'S COMMON-PLACE BOOK. THIRD SERIES--ANALYTICAL READINGS.\nEdited by MR. SOUTHEY'S Son-in-Law, the Rev. J.W.\nWARTER, B.D. Square crown 8vo. 21s.\n\n                       XVIII.\n\nSOUTHEY'S COMMON-PLACE BOOK. FOURTH AND CONCLUDING\nSERIES--ORIGINAL MEMORANDA, &c. Edited by the Rev. J.W.\nWARTER, B.D., MR. SOUTHEY'S Son-in-Law. Square crown\n8vo. [Nearly Ready\n\n                         XIX.\n\nSOUTHEY'S THE DOCTOR, &c. Complete in One Volume, with Portrait, Bust,\nVignette, and coloured Plate. Edited by the Rev. J.W. WARTER,\nB.D., the Author's Son-in-Law. Square crown 8vo. 21s.\n\n                          XX.\n\nSOUTHEY'S LIFE and CORRESPONDENCE. Edited by his Son, the Rev. C.C.\nSOUTHEY, M.A.; with Portraits and Landscape illustrations. 6\nvols. post 8vo. 63s.\n\nLONDON:\n\nLONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nPrinted by THOMAS CLARK SHAW, of No. 8. New Street Square, at\nNo. 5. New Street Square, in the Parish of St. Bride, in the City of\nLondon; and published by GEORGE BELL, of No. 186. Fleet Street,\nin the Parish of St. Dunstan in the West, in the City of London,\nPublisher, at No. 186. Fleet Street aforesaid.--Saturday, Dec. 28. 1850.","title":"Notes and Queries, Number 61, December 28, 1850","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":20297}