A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION - Minor Queries:- Fishing by Electricity As salt as Fire" There were three ladies," &c. Prophecies fulfilled The Chase Family -Mummies of Eccle- siastics in Germany - The Merry-thought, or Wish- bone-Bells on Horses' Necks - Dissertation on a Salt Box- Meaning of Alcohol-" Hip, hip, hurrah!" Armorial Bearings of Cities and Towns - Hands in the Pockets - John de Huderesfield-John, King Etymology of the Word "Devil," by Richard F. Little- Replies to Minor Queries: - Royal "We". "The Man FRANCIS DAVISON AND DR. DONNE. The editor of Select Poetry, chiefly devotional, of "By Euphrates' flowry side "Let my tongue lose singing skill; Let it still To my parched rooffe be glewed, If in either harpe or voice I rejoyce, Till thy joys shall be renewed. "Lord, plague Edom's traitrous kind; Beare in mind In our ruyne how they revell'd: Downe with all, let all be levell'd! "And thou, Babel, when the tide Now a flowing, falls to turning, To as lowe an ebb of mourning. 46 Us without all mercy wasted, Wee, poor Wee, have seen and tasted! Happie, who thy tender barnes Of their wayling mothers tearing, With their brayns and blood besmearing." What an imperfect idea any jingling version can give us of any Psalm of the inspired writers; and how signally this has been proved by the metrical attempts at Psalm cxxxvii. The most successful version of it in any language is, I fancy, that by Camoens. Warmington. FOLK LORE. Rr. Sites of Buildings changed (Vol. v., pp. 436.524.). -In the Traditions of Lancashire, edited by John Roby, Esq., First Series, vol. i. p. 23., there is a tale entitled The Goblin Builders, showing how "Gamel the Saxon Thane, Lord of Recedham or Rached (now Rochdale) intended to build a chapel unto St. Chadde, nigh to the banks of the Rache or Roach." It seems a level, convenient situation was chosen for the edifice; but thrice were the foundations there laid, and thrice were all the building materials conveyed by invisible agency from this flat spot to a more airy and elevated situation. At last the Thane, ceasing to strive against fate, gave up his original design, and the present church was built on the locality designated by these unseen workmen. The ascent was high, and one hundred and twenty-four steps had to be laid to help the natives up to the chapel of St. Chadde. BONSALL. Folk Lore of Kacouss People (Vol. v., p. 413.).— Does not the expression "under the bells" mean the lower part of the belfry tower, in which the people could attend divine service, and yet not be in the body of the church? J. B. RELTON. Charms. The following charm was practised a few weeks since in the village of Newport, Essex, on a poor lad subject to epileptic fits. Nine six pences were procured from nine virgins (" for which they were to be neither asked nor thanked"); the money was then made into a ring, which the child wore; but with no satisfactory result, possibly from some flaw in the primary condition. METAOCO. Weather Prophecy (Vol. v., p. 534.). It is a common opinion in the midland counties that if the oak comes into leaf before the ash, a dry summer may be expected, and a wet summer if the ash is the first. A wet spring is generally, I believe, favourable to the earlier leaves of the ash, which are retarded by a dry one. This year the oak was very much earlier than the ash. H. N. E. POEM BY (?) Edward bedingfield. In a copy of Funerali Antichi di diuersi Popoli, et Nationi, &c., Descritti in Dialogo da Thomaso Porcacchi, in Venetia, MDLXXIIII., which was presented to the Hull Subscription Library by the executors of Sir Thomas Coltman, Kt., there is written on a fly-leaf the following poem. The field, and the poem is probably in the same hand. title-page bears the signature of Edward RedingI have retained the old spelling and capital letters. Curious Mistranslation.-In Dickens' Household Words, in No. 113. (May 22), there is an article entitled "The Rights of French Women," in which, at p. 221., a Frenchman is made to say, that, in consequence of a promenade in the country, he and his child "shall sleep like two wooden shoes." Now this raised a Query in my mind, for I had never before heard "wooden shoes taxed with any drowsy qualities, although undoubtedly heary; and I could not call to mind any authority for the ascription. Upon turning to a French dictionary, I find that the word sabot, which means a wooden shoe, means also a top my Query was therefore turned into a Note; that Note being, that the writer of the article had wrongfully used the former meaning instead of the latter; and that the Frenchman had really said, he and his child should "sleep like two tops." Is this Note worth your notice ? P. T. Stoke Newington. "The Bore" in the Severn. In the following passages found in the second text of Lazamon's Brut, which Sir F. Madden considers to have been written about fifty years after the earlier text, the probable date of which he fixes at the commencement of the thirteenth century, occur the three forms of "beares," "beres," "bieres," denoting waves, viz. 66 passi over bieres. 1846, vol. i. p. 57. be beares me hire bi-nome. Street Crossing. A writer in The Builder has cleverly suggested that bridges might be erected in the crowded thoroughfares of London for the convenience of foot passengers, who lose so much valuable time in crossing. As the stairs would occupy a considerable space, and occasion much fatigue, I beg to propose an amendment: Might not the (to) pass over waves."- Lazam., ed. Madden, Lond. ascending pedestrians be raised up by the descending? The bridge would then resemble the letter H, and occupy but little room. Three or four at a time, stepping into an iron framework, would be gently elevated, walk across, and perform by their weight the same friendly office for others rising on the opposite side. Surely no obstacles can arise which might not be surmounted by ingenuity. If a temporary bridge were erected in one of the parks the experiment might be tried at little cost, and, at any rate, some amusement would be afforded. C. T. Travelling Expenses at the Close of the Seventeenth Century.I beg to send, for the information of your correspondent A. A. (Vol. iii., p. 143.), the following transcript of a MS. entry on a flyleaf at the end of a Jewish calendar for the year the waves took her from me."—Vol. iii. p. 121. "wandri mid þ. . beres. floating with the waves.' - Vol. iii. p. 144. Sir F. Madden observes, in his Glossarial Remarks, Lazam., vol. iii. p. 451. v. 1341.: "This word has not been met with in A.-S. It is no doubt the same with the Isl. bára: Old Germ. bäre; Dutch baar, wave or billow. Perhaps the bar of a harbour is hence derived." May we not also trace to this source the term Queries. PRINTS. I will be much obliged if any of your readers can tell me the name of the engraver of a favourite old print in my collection, it being a proof before letters, without, consequently, the names of the engraver and painter, which latter I should also wish to know. Nor am I certain what to call the subject, though I think it is probably Sterne's Maria. The print is an upright about sixteen inches by ten, consisting of a single figure in the foreground, reaching nearly the whole height of the plate, of a pensive young maid in simple attire, standing on the ground in sandals, a sort of mantle covering the back of her head, and falling around her, forming a train at her feet; the right arms and part of the breast and neck exposed, the left arm round the neck of a kid or lamb lying down on a flowing bank by her side at the root of a tree. The background consists of a pretty little distant landscape with a uniform roofed cot, a shepherd and flock of sheep. The work seems a good deal like Sir Robt. Strange's the St. Agnes, for instance; but I do not see anything answering this description in any of Strange's catalogues in my possession. I have another print I should also be glad to be informed about, a much older one than the above, probably a Roman Catholic altar-piece. It consists of groups of figures in the clouds, the Madonna in the centre of the upper compartment, surmounted with a number of little angels; a female in the centre of the lower compartment, kneeling before a child and angel; and on both sides, below and above, a number of large figures, angels, monks, and friars, a pope, and a bishop, &c. What appears curious, one of the ecclesiastics, in the lower compartment, left-hand side, holds a carbine or large pistol, having a crucifix on the end of the barrel, instead of the usual sight; above his left shoulder is an angel with a bunch of keys, and a monk on the opposite side holds a cross in a wreath of flowers. The print is a good deal mutilated, and no margin left to show the exact dimensions, or the names of engraver or painter. It is upright, about twenty-five inches by seventeen. The execution is something like that of Caracci, but rather a coarse line engraving. I would ascertain the subject of another fine old print, which I will describe. It is an upright, twenty-one inches by sixteen and a half, dated 1566 in the right low corner, and in the left is the name "Titianus;" but I cannot say whether he is the engraver, as the paper is blotted where the fecit should be looked for. Near the middle at the bottom are two letters like M. R. or H. R., and also at a distance "Cum privilegio." In the upper part of this print, in the centre, is a bird with expanded wings surmounted with rays or a glory; and a little lower on each side a bearded figure with a glory round the head, seated in the clouds, each holding a globe (apparently) in the left hand, and a pencil or little ferule in the right, pointing upwards. On each side of these, in the background, a host of little heads and faces are seen; and the lower compartment is filled up with large figures, chiefly of men, also seated in the clouds; the one in the centre holds up with both hands, towards the figures at the top, a kind of close vessel, perhaps the ark, and a woman is standing by him with outstretched arms, pointing upwards with the right; others in the lower group hold different things, and one in the right corner seems to rest his arm, with a scroll in his hand, on the back of an eagle. There is a slight sketch of a landscape at the bottom, with two little arched buildings among trees. On turning up Bryan's Dictionary, new edition, for Titian's etchings, all he says is that Bartsch has described eight prints attributed to him. CN. CL. KING MAGNUS' BURIAL-PLACE AT DOWNPATRICK. In the course of last December I was induced, at the request of the committee of our mechanics' institute here, to deliver before the members a lecture on the " History and Antiquities of the Town and its Neighbourhood." It is a subject which, from the former importance of the place as an episcopal see, and being one of the strongholds of the English pale, required considerable research, much more, indeed, than I had then either opportunity or time to afford for its proper illustration. Not least amongst the interesting series of events in its history was its frequent invasions by the Danes or Northmen, and the death and burial of Magnus, king of Norway, carly in the twelfth century, either beside the cathedral church or in its immediate vicinity. To ascertain the place of that king's sepulture formed a subject of constant investigation; but, as there was no tradition pointing it out, nor any place now called Slat-Manus, or any similar designation, I was obliged to abandon the inquiry without any certain conclusion, the authorities bearing on the subject being so much at variance both in the description of the scene of the battle and place of burial. I had, indeed, heard that M. WORSAAE, the author of several works on Danish antiquities, had some years past been in this neighbourhood, and had pointed out a spot adjacent to the town, remote from the cathedral, as the place of burial, and which report I introduced into the lecture. As I perceive M. WORSAAE is a correspondent of "N. & Q.," the object of this letter is to ascertain whether he could afford any information as to this matter, or the other visits of the Northmen to the county of Down, and whether he is aware of any other information than that contained in the gunpowder at any depth, and I cannot help thinkChronicle of Man, Torfæus, Snorro, in Johnson's ing that in some kinds of fishing a moderate quanScandinavian Antiquities, Giraldus' Cambrensis, tity of powder exploded in the vicinity of the bait, and Dr. Hanmer. If he had any ancient Danish which might be at a small distance from it, would maps of this neighbourhood, doubtless they would "astonish the natives" of the deep, and bring be of vast importance on this subject. I should them to the surface much more rapidly than could say that a very hurried and imperfect report of be accomplished by any method now in use. the lecture appeared in the columns of our local paper, extending through four successive numbers. I should feel much gratification in forwarding you or M. WORSAAE such portions thereof as I can now lay my hands on, particularly that relating to King Magnus, should any desire to that effect be expressed. JOHN W. HANNA. Saul Street, Downpatrick, Ireland. CURFEW. (Vol. iv., p. 240.) In Noake's Worcester in Olden Times, London, 1849, p. 121., under the head of "Bells," I find the following passage: "The popular notion of the curfew having originated in the odious tyranny of the Conqueror has been negatived by modern research. Du Cange says that the ringing of the couvre-feu prevailed generally in Europe during the middle ages as a precaution against fire. Voltaire also takes the same view of the custom. Henry I. abolished his father's enactment, but the A 1. What historical notices are there of a curfew prior to the Conquest? 2. At what places on the continent of Europe, besides Vienna, has the custom been ascertained to prevail? Your correspondent H. H. B. (Vol. Minor Queries. J. SANSOM. Fishing by Electricity. It is a well-known fact that the discharge of gunpowder under water is more powerful in its effects than when it is exploded in the atmosphere, and that a small discharge will kill all the fish in the vicinity. I have a curiosity to ascertain whether it is possible to make practical use of this fact in deep sea fishing. By means of the gutta percha wire and the electric fluid, it is extremely easy to convey and discharge LLEWILLAH. As salt as Fire.—Whence this saying? R. H. "There were three ladies," &c. - My paternal grandmother, who was a native of county Kerry in Ireland, was in the habit of singing a song set to a sweet and plaintive air, which thus commenced : "There were three ladies playing at ball, Farin-dan-dan and farin-dan-dee; There came a white knight, and he wooed them all, He courted the eldest with golden rings, And the others with many fine things, The rest has been forgotten. Can any of your readers furnish the remaining words? UNEDA. Philadelphia. & Q" various requests concerning families, I The Chase Family. Having observed in "N. would like to ask some information respecting the "Chase" family, three brothers of which emigrated to America about the year 1630, and settled in the vicinity of Newbury port, in Massachusetts; their names were Aquila, Thomas, and William. Tradition says they came from Cornwall, and also that the name was originally spelled "La Chasse," and that they were of Norman extraction, having settled in England about the time of the Conquest. As their descendants in the United States now number about 30,000 individuals, if those who remained in England have been equally prolific, there must be many of the same name who perhaps can give their trans-Atlantic cousins some knowledge of their ancestry. QUASCACUNQUEN. Philadelphia, June 14. Mummies of Ecclesiastics in Germany. - I remember having some conversation with a friend a few years ago respecting some bodies which he had seen preserved in the church of some town, |