Part 2

There can be no doubt, however, that this worship remained even avowedly to a very much more recent period in Brittany. "It is well known," {536} says De Freminville, in his _Antiquités des Côtes-du-Nord_, p. 31., "that idolatry was still exercised in the Isle of Ushant, and in many parishes of the diocese of Vannes, in the seventeenth century. And even at the present day," he adds, "how many traces of it do we find in the superstitious beliefs of our peasants!"

Many of these notions still so prevalent in the remoter districts of that remote province, seem to point to nearly obliterated indications of a connexion between these "peulvans" or pillar-stones, and the zodiacal forms of worship, which the Druids are known to have, more or less exoterically, practised. Thus it is believed in many localities that a "menhir" in the neighbourhood _turns on its axis at midnight_. (Mahé, _Essai sur les Antiq. du Morbihan_, p. 229.) In other cases the peasantry make a practice of specially visiting them on the eve of St. John, _i. e._ at the summer solstice.

Various other remnants of the ideas or practices inculcated by the ancient faith may be traced in usages and superstitions still prevalent, and, without such a key to their explanation, meaningless. With such difficulty did the new supplant the old religion. Many curious illustrations may be found in Brittany of the means adopted by the priests of the new faith to steal, as it were, for their own emblems the adoration which all their efforts were ineffectual to turn from its ancient objects, in the manner mentioned by the writer in the _Archæologia_, cited by SIR J. E. TENNENT in his Note. Thus we find "menhirs" with crosses erected on their summits, and sculptured on their sides. See _Notions Historiques, etc. sur le Littoral du Département des. Côtes-du-Nord_, par M. Habasque: St. Brieuc, 1834, vol. iii. p. 22.

In conclusion, I may observe that this worship prevailed also in Spain--, doubtless, throughout Europe--inasmuch as we find the Eleventh and Twelfth Councils of Toledo warning those who offered worship to stones, that they were sacrificing, to devils.

T. A. T.

Florence, March, 1854.

* * * * *

SOMERSETSHIRE FOLK LORE.

1. All texts heard in a church to be remembered by the congregation, for they must be repeated at the day of judgment.

2. If the clock strikes while the text is being given, a death may be expected in the parish.

3. A death in the parish during the Christmas tyde, is a token of many deaths in the year. I remember such a circumstance being spoken of in a village of Somerset. Thirteen died in that year, a very unusual number. Very many attributed this great loss of life to the fact above stated.

4. When a corpse is laid out, a plate of salt is laid on the chest. Why, I know not.

5. None can die comfortably under the cross-beam of a house. I knew a man of whom it was said at his death, that after many hours hard dying, being removed from the position under the cross-beam, he departed peaceably. I cannot account for the origin of this saying.

6. Ticks in the oak-beams of old houses, or death-watches so called, warn the inhabitants of that dwelling of some misfortune.

7. Coffin-rings, when dug out of a grave, are worn to keep off the cramp.

8. Water from the font is good for ague and rheumatism.

9. No moon, in its change, ought to be seen through a window.

10. Turn your money on hearing the first cuckoo.

11. The cattle low and kneel on Christmas eve.

12. Should a corpse be ever carried through any path, &c., that path cannot be done away with. For cases, see Wales, Somerset, Bampton, Devon.

13. On the highest mound of the hill above Weston-super-Mare, is a heap of stones, to which every fisherman in his daily walk to Sand Bay, Kewstoke, contributes one towards his day's good fishing.

14. Smothering hydrophobic patients is still spoken of in Somerset as so practised.

15. Origin of the saying "I'll send you to Jamaica." Did it not take its source from the unjudge-like sentence of Judge Jeffries to those who suffered without sufficient evidence, for their friendly disposition towards the Duke of Monmouth: "To be sent ---- ---- to the plantations of Jamaica?" Many innocent persons were so cruelly treated in Somerset.

16. The nurse who brings the infant to be baptized bestows upon the first person she meets on her way to the church whatever bread and cheese she can offer, _i. e._, according to the condition of the parents.

17. In Devonshire it is thought unlucky not to catch the first butterfly.

18. Mackerel not in season till the lesson of the 23rd and 24th of Numbers is read in church. I cannot account for this saying. A better authority could have been laid down for the remembering of such like incidents. You may almost form a notion yourself without any help. The common saying is, Mackerel is in season when Balaam's ass speaks in church.

M. A. BALLIOL.

* * * * *

IRISH RECORDS.

It not unfrequently happens that ancient deeds and such like instruments executed in England, and relating to English families or property, are {537} to be found on record upon the rolls of Ireland. The following transcripts have been taken from the Memoranda Roll of the Irish Exchequer of the first year of Edward II.:

"Noverint universi me Johannem de Doveria Rectorem Ecclesie de Litlington Lyncolnensis Dyocesis recepisse in Hibernia nomine domini Roberti de Bardelby clerici subscriptas particulas pecunie per manus subscriptorum, videlicet, per manus Johannis de Idessale dimid' marc'. Item per manus Thome de Kancia 5 marc'. Item per manus Ade Coffyn 2 marc'. Item per manus mercatorum Friscobaldorum 10 libri una vice et alia vice per manus eorundem mercatorum 100^s, fratre Andr' de Donscapel de ordine minorum mediante. Item per manus Johannis de Seleby 29^s. Item de eodem Johanne alia vice 2 marc' et dimid'. Item per manus ejusdem Johannis tertia vice tres marc' et dimid'. Item per dominum Willielmum de Estden per manus Ricardi de Onyng 100^s. Et per manus domini Johannis de Hothom pro negociis domini Walteri de la Haye centum solid? De quibus particulis pecunie memorate predictum dominum Robertum de Bardelby et ejus executores quoscumque per presentes quieto imperpetuum. Ita tamen quod si alia littera acquietancie ab ista littera de dictis particulis pecunie inveniatur de cetero alicubi pro nulla cassa cancellata irrita et majus imperpetuum habeatur. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum meum presentibus apposui. Datum apud Dublin', 28 die Februarij, anno regni regis Edwardi primo."--_Rot. Mem._ 1 Edw. II. m. 12. dorso.

"A toutz ceaux q' ceste p'sente l're verrount ou orrount Rauf de Mounthermer salutz en Dieu--Sachez nous avoir ordeine estably e assigne n're foial et loial Mons' Waut' Bluet e dan Waut' de la More, ou lun de eaux, si ambedeux estre ne point, de vendre e n're p'fit fere de totes les gardes e mariages es parties Dirlaunde q' escheierent en n're temps, e de totes autres choses q'a nous aparten[=e]t de droit en celes p'ties, e q^cunque eaux ferount p^r n're prou, co'me est susdit, teignoms apaez e ferme e estable lavoms. En tesmoigne de quele chose a ceste n're l're patente avoms mys n're seal. Don' a Tacstede le qu^it jour de Octobr lan du regne le Rey Edward p^imer."--_Rot. Mem._ 1 Edw. II. m. 17.

"Rogerus Calkeyn de Gothurste salutem in Domino Sempiternam. Noveritis me remisisse et quietum clamasse pro me et heredibus meis Johanni de Yaneworth heredibus suis et assignatis, totum jus et clame[=u] quod habui vel aliquo modo habere potui, in tenemento de Gothurste in dominio de Cheddeworth. Ita quod nec ego nec heredes mei nec aliquis nomine nostro, aliquid juris vel clamei in prædicto tenemento habere vendicare poterimus imperpetuum. In cujus rei testimonium huic presenti scripto sigillum meum apposui. Hiis testibus, Magistro Waltero de Istelep tunc Barone domini Regis de Scaccario Dublin', Thoma de Yaneworth, Rogero de Glen, Roberto de Bristoll, Roberto scriptore, et aliis."--_Rot. Mem._ 1 Edw. II. m. 30.

JAMES F. FERGUSON.

Dublin.

* * * * *

DERIVATION OF CURIOUS BOTANIC NAMES, AND ANCIENT ITALIAN KALYDOR.

The generic name of the fern _Ceterach officinarum_ is generally said to be derived from the Arabic _Chetherak_. I find however, among a list of ancient British names of plants, published in 1633 at the end of Johnson's edition of Gerard, the expression _cedor y wrach_, which means _the joined_ or _double rake_, and is exactly significant of the form of the Ceterach. The Fernrakes are joined as it were back to back; but the single prongs of the one alternate botanically with those of the other. Master Robert Dauyes, of Guissaney in Flintshire, the correspondent of Johnson, gives the name of another of the Filices (_Equisetum_) as the English equivalent of the ancient British term. But the form of this plant does not at all correspond to that signified by the Celtic words. It is not improbable, therefore, that he was wrong as respects the correct English name of the plant.

The Turkish _shetr_ or _chetr_, to cut, and _warak_, a leaf, seem to point out the meaning of the Arabic term quoted in Hooker's _Flora_ and elsewhere. Probably some of your Oriental readers will have the kindness to supply the exact English for _chetherak_.

It appears to me, however, that the transition from _cedorwrach_ to _ceterach_ is more easy, and is a more probable derivation.

Hooker and Loudon say that another generic name, _Veronica_, is of doubtful origin. In the Arabic language I find _virunika_ as the name of a plant. This word is evidently composed of _nikoo_, beautiful, and _viroo_, remembrance; viroonika. therefore means beautiful remembrance, and is but an Oriental name for a Forget-me-not, for which flower the _Veronica chamædrys_ has often been mistaken. Possibly the name may have come to us from the Spanish-Arabian vocabulary. The Spaniards call the same plant _veronica_. They use this word to signify the representation of our Saviour's face on a handkerchief. When Christ was bearing his cross, a young woman, the legend says, wiped his face with her handkerchief, which thenceforth retained the divine likeness.[1]

The feminine name _Veronica_ is of course the Latin form of [Greek: Pheronikê], victory-bearer (of which Berenice is the Macedonian and Latin construction), and is plainly, thus derived, inappropriate as the designation of a little azure wild flower which, like loving eyes, greets us everywhere.

In looking over Martin Mathée's notes on _Dioscorides_, published 1553, I find that Italian women of his time used to make a cosmetic of the root of the _Arum_, commonly called "Lords and Ladies." The mixture, he says, makes the skin wondrously {538} white and shining, and is called _gersa_. ("_Ils font des racines d'Aron de l'eaue et de lexive_," &c., tom. v. p. 98.)

HUGHES FRASER HALLE, LL.D.

South Lambeth.

[Footnote 1: [See "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., pp. 199. 252. 304.]]

* * * * *

Minor Notes.

_Forensic Jocularities._--The epigram on "Four Lawyers," given in Vol. ix., p. 103. of "N. & Q.," has recalled to my recollection one intended to characterise four worthies of the past generation, which I heard some thirty years since, and which I send for preservation among other flies in your amber. It is supposed to record the history of a case:

"Mr. Leech Made a speech, Neat, concise, and strong; Mr. Hart, On the other part, Was wordy, dull, and wrong. Mr. Parker Made it darker; 'Twas dark enough without. Mr. Cooke, Cited his book; And the Chancellor said--I doubt."

--a picture of Chancery practice in the days "when George III. was king," which some future Macaulay of the twenty-first or twenty-second century, when seeking to reproduce in his vivid pages the form and _pressure_ of the time, may cite from "N. & Q." without risk of leading his readers to any very inaccurate conclusions.

T. A. T.

Florence.

_Ridley's University._--The author of _The Bible in many Tongues_ (a little work on the history of the Bible and its translations, lately published by the Religious Tract Society, and calculated to be useful), informs us that Ridley "tells us incidentally," in his farewell letter, that he learned nearly the whole of St. Paul's Epistles "in the course of his solitary walks at Oxford." What Ridley tells us directly in his "Farewell" to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, is as follows:

"In my orchard (the walls, butts, and trees, if they could speak, would bear me witness) I learned without book almost all Paul's Epistles; yea, and I ween all the canonical epistles, save only the Apocalypse."

ABHBA.

_Marvellous, if true._--

"This same Duc de Lauragnois had a wife to whom he was tenderly attached. She died of consumption. Her remains were not interred; but were, by some chemical process, reduced to a sort of small stone, which was set in a ring which the Duke always wore on his finger. After this, who will say that the eighteenth century was not a romantic age?"--_Memoirs of the Empress Josephine_, vol. ii. p. 162.: London, 1829.

E. H. A.

_Progress of the War._--One is reminded at the present time of the satirical verses with reference to the slow progress of business in the National Assembly at the first French Revolution, which were as follows:

"Une heure, deux heures, trois heures, quatre heures, Cinq heures, six heures, sept heures, midi; Allons-nous diner, mes amis! Allons-nous," &c.

"Une heure, deux heures, trois heures, quatre heures, Cinq heures, six heures, sept heures, minuit; Allons-nous coucher, c'est mon avis! Allons-nous coucher," &c.

Which may be thus imitated in our language:

"One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four, Five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight, Nine o'clock, ten o'clock, eleven o'clock, noon; Let's go to dinner, 'tis none too soon! Let's go to dinner," &c.

"One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, four, Five o'clock, six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight, Nine o'clock, ten o'clock, eleven, midnight; Let's go to bed, 'tis all very right! Let's go to bed," &c.

F. C. H.

_Hatherleigh Moor, Devonshire._--I copy the following from an old Devonshire newspaper, and should be obliged if any of your correspondents can authenticate the circumstances commemorated:

"When John O'Gaunt laid the foundation stone Of the church he built by the river; Then Hatherleigh was poor as Hatherleigh Moor, And so it had been for ever and ever. When John O'Gaunt saw the people were poor, He taught them this chaunt by the river; The people are poor as Hatherleigh Moor, And so they have been for ever and ever. When John O'Gaunt he made his last will, Which he penn'd by the side of the river, Then Hatherleigh Moor he gave to the poor, And so it shall be for ever and ever."

The above lines are stated to have been found "written in an ancient hand."

BALLIOLENSIS.

_Cromwellian Gloves._--The _Cambridge Chronicle_ of May 6, says that there is in the possession of Mr. Chas. Martin, of Fordham, a pair of gloves, reputed to have been worn by Oliver Cromwell. They are made of strong beaver, richly fringed with heavy drab silk fringe, and reach half way between the wrist and the elbow. They were for a long time in the possession of a family at Huntingdon. There is an inscription on the inside, bearing the name of Cromwell; but the date is nearly obliterated.

P. J. F. GANTILLON.

{539}

_Restall._--In the curious old church book of the Abbey Parish, Shrewsbury, the word _restall_ occurs as connected with burials in the interior of the church. I cannot find this word in any dictionary to which I have access. Can the readers of "N. & Q." explain its meaning and origin, and supply instances and illustrations of its use elsewhere? I subjoin the following notes of entries in which the word occurs:

"1566. Received for restall and knyll.

1577. Received for buryalls in the church, viz.

Itm. for a restall of Jane Powell for her gra^d mother, vijs. viijd."

1593. The word is now altered to "lastiall," and so continues to be written till April 29, 1621, when it is written "restiall," which continues to be its orthography until 1645, when it ceases to be used altogether, and "burials in the church" are alone spoken of.

PRIOR ROBERT OF SALOP.

* * * * *

Queries.

SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.

(_Continued from_ p. 514.)

In a previous communication, fighting under the shield of a great authority, I attempted to prove that the effigies of the mediæval tombs presented the semblance of death--death in grandeur, mortality as the populace were accustomed to behold it, paraded in sad procession through the streets, and dignified in their temples. The character of the costume bears additional testimony to their supposed origin, and strongly warrants this conclusion. It is highly improbable that the statuaries of that age would clothe the expiring ecclesiastic in his sacerdotal robes, case the dying warrior in complete steel, and deck out other languishing mortals in their richest apparel, placing a lion or a dog, and such like crests or emblems, beneath their feet. They were far too matter-of-fact to treat a death-bed scene so poetically. The corpse however, when laid in state, _was_ arrayed in the official or the worthiest dress, and these heraldic appurtenances _did_ occupy that situation. Thus in 1852 were the veritable remains of Prince Paul of Wurtemburg, in full regimentals and decorated with honours, publicly exhibited in the Chapelle Ardente at Paris (_Illustrated London News_, vol. xx. p. 316.). Unimaginative critics exclaim loudly against the anomaly of a lifeless body, or a dying Christian, being thus dressed in finery, or covered with cumbrous armour; and such would have been the case in former days had not the people been so familiarised with this solemn spectacle. In an illumination in Froissart we have the funeral of Richard II., where the body is placed upon a simple car attired in regal robes, a crown being on the head, and the arms crossed. We are informed that "the body of the effigies of Oliver Cromwell lay upon a bed of state covered with a large pall of black velvet, and that at the feet of the effigies stood his crest, according to the custom of ancient monuments." The chronicler might, perhaps, have said with more propriety "in accordance with tradition;" cause and effect, original and copy, being here reversed.

"In a magnificent manner (he proceeds) the effigies was carried to the east end of Westminster Abbey, and placed in a noble structure, which was raised on purpose to receive it. It remained some time exposed to public view, the corpse having been some days before interred in Henry VII.'s Chapel."

In the account of the funeral obsequies of General Monk, Duke of Albemarle, in 1670, the writer says:

"Wren has acquitted himself so well, that the hearse, now that the effigy has been placed upon it, and surrounded by the banners and bannerols, is a striking and conspicuous object in the old abbey. It is supported by four great pillars, and rises in the centre in the shape of a dome."

It is here also worthy of note, that Horncastle Church affords a curious example of the principle of a double representation--one in life, and the other in death; before alluded to in the Italian monuments, and in that of Aylmer de Valence. On a mural brass (1519), Sir Lionel Dymock kneels in the act of prayer; and on another plate covering the grave below, the body is delineated wrapt in a shroud--beyond all controversy dead.

Mr. Markland, in his useful work, mentions "the steel-clad sires, and mothers mild _reposing_ on their marble tombs;" and borrows from another archæologist an admirable description of the chapel of Edward the Confessor, who declares that "a more august spectacle can hardly be conceived, so many renowned sovereigns _sleeping_ round the shrine of an older sovereign, the holiest of his line." It can only be the sleep of death, and this the sentiment conveyed: "These all died in faith." The subjects of this disquisition are not lounging in disrespectful supplication, nor wrapt in sleep enjoying pious dreams, nor stretched on a bed of mortal sickness: but the soul, having winged its way from sin and suffering, has left its tenement with the beams of hope yet lingering on the face, and the holy hands still refusing to relax their final effort. Impossible as this may seem to calculating minds, it is nevertheless one of the commonest of the authorised and customary modes designed to signify the faith, penitence, and peace attendant on a happy end.

C. T.

{540}

* * * * *

"ES TU SCOLARIS."

Allow me through your pages to ask some of your correspondents for information respecting an old and very curious book, which I picked up the other day. It is a thin _unpaged_ octavo of twelve leaves, in black-letter type, without printer's name or date; but a pencil-note at the bottom of a quaint woodcut, representing a teacher and scholars, gives a date 1470! And in style of type, abbreviations, &c., it seems evidently of about the same age with another book which I bought at the same time, and which bears date as printed at "Padua, 1484."

The book about which I inquire bears the title _Es tu Scolaris_, and is a Latin-German or Dutch grammar, of a most curious and primitive character, proving very manifestly that when William Lilly gave to the world the old _Powle's Grammar_, it was not before such a work was needed. A few extracts from my book will give some idea of the erudition and etymological profundity of the "learned Theban" who compiled this guide to the Temple of Learning, which, if they do not instruct, will certainly amuse your readers. I should premise that the contractions and abbreviations in the printing of the book are so numerous and arbitrary, that it is extremely difficult to read, and that this style of printing condenses the subject-matter so much, that the twelve leaves would, in modern typography, extend to twenty or thirty. The book commences in the interrogatory style, in the words of its title, _Es tu Scolaris?_--"_Sum._" It then proceeds to ring the changes on this word "_sum_," what part of speech, what kind of verb, &c.; and setting it down as _verbum anormalium_, goes on to enumerate the anormalous verbs in this verse,--

"Sum, volo, fero, atque edo, Tot et anormala credo."

Now begins the curious lore of the volume:

"_Q._ Unde derivatur _sum_?

_A._ Derivatur a greca dictione, _hemi_ ([Greek: emi]); mutando _h_ in _s_ et _e_ in _u_, et deponendo _i_, _sic habes sum_!"

I dare say this process of derivation will be new to your classical readers, but as we proceed, they will say, "Foregad this is more exquisite fooling still."

"_Q._ Unde derivatur _volo_?

_A._ Derivatur a _beniamin_ (sic pro [Greek: boulomai]) grece; mutando _ben_ in _vo_ et _iamin_ in _lo_, sic habes _volo_. Versus

Est _volo_ formatum A _beniamin_, bene vocatum.

_Q._ Unde derivatur _fero_?

_A._ Dicitur a _phoos_! grece; mutando _pho_ in _fe_ et _os_ in _ro_, sic habes _fero_!

_Q._ Unde derivatur _edo_?

_A._ A _phagin_, grece; mutando _pha_ in _e_ et _gin_ in _do_, sic habes _edo_!"

Here be news for etymologists, and proofs, moreover, that when some of the zealous antagonists of Martin Luther in the next century denounced "Heathen Greek" as a diabolical _invention_ of his, there was little in the grammar knowledge of the day to contradict the accusation.

But we have not yet exhausted the wonders and virtues of the word _sum_; the grammar lesson goes on to ask,--