516
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. DEC. 26, igos.
pilgrims for centuries, a multitude of little piles of
stones are seen, the significance of which is well
known to the people of the country. The majority
are in reality witness-piles accumulated by people
to attest that they have mounted to these summits.
But there are others which are connected with love
and fecundity Young girls in search of a hus-
band, after having made a halt at the oratory of la
Sainte-Baume, climb le saint Pilon, and leave there
a triangle formed of three flat pebbles ; a fourth is
placed in the centre. If the following year they
find the castellet intact, the augury is good, and the
desired husband cannot be distant. Lads who
think of marrying a young girl also construct with
care their moulon de joye, and mentally pray St.
Madeleine to let them know whether she approves
of their choice. When, on returning the year after,
they find their heap intact, they consider their
project as well received by the'saint. If it has been
dispersed, they are persuaded that their marriage
will not be blessed by her, and this is a sufficient
reason to make them seek another betrothed."
Pp. 350-51.
I may add that the custom of sliding down rocks is not confined to Ille-et-Vilaine. Instances are also quoted from C6tes-du- Nord, Provence, and Basse- Alpes. R. A.
Holed stones are treated of by Sir Norman Lockyer in his ' Stonehenge and other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered,' 1906, and, very slightly, in T. Rice Holmes' s ' Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Julius Caesar,' Oxford, 1907, though these works make no reference to the legends asked for by MB. HARRIS STONE. Fergusson's ' Rude Stone Monuments ' might be referred to ; also the Victoria County Histories, and the articles on Stone Monuments and Stone Worship in * The Encyclopaedia Britannica,' ' Chambers' s Encyclopaedia,' and ' The Jewish Encyclo- paedia.' FREDK. A. EDWARDS.
RAID OF THE BISHOP or NORWICH IN 1383 (10 S. x. 468). The ' Diet. Nat. Biog.,' xiv. 411, gives the references in the chro- niclers (Froissart, Walsingham, Malverne, Knyghton, &c.), and mentions Sir Hugh Calverley, Sir William Elmham, Sir William Faringdon, and Sir Thomas Trivet as having been associated with Despenser on this expedition. A. R. BAYLEY.
"DEAR": "O DEAR NO!" (10 S. x. 349, 395, 434.) I have always been given to understand that our own peculiar use of " dear " in this connexion is Italian in origin, as it is certainly in sound and sense ; just as the vulgar " Dammy " is borrowed from the French Dame. " Dear me " is only Dio mio ! over again ; and so with ^ " Oh ! dear " (Oh Dio /), " Dear, clear " (Dio, dio /), and other combinations.
In fact, Englishmen who have objected to
the frequent introduction of the sacred nam&
in conversation abroad, have before now
had to be reminded that the innocent-
looking " Dear me ! " is guilty of the same
impiety. Human nature is much the same
all the world over.
The imagined derivation from the Old French dea seems to me very far-fetched.
PHILIP NORTH.
HENRY BARNEWELL, PREBENDARY OF ROCHESTER (10 S. x. 448). George Barne- well of Rochester, doubtless the " cousin " whom Henry Barnewell made his executor,, in his will, dated 20 Aug., proved P.C.C. (104 Clark) 2 Oct., 1625, mentions his wife Elizabeth ; his son Edmund ; and his daughters Bazill, Elizabeth, and Christian. He owned a messuage called Patroces ; land in Middleton, Great Henny, Little Henny,. and Bulmer, Essex ; houses in Rochester and Strood ; a farm-house at Allhallowes, Kent ; tenements at Yalding ; a lease of the king's orchard within the precincts of Rochester Cathedral ; and a tenement at Lamberhurst, Sussex. An appended memorandum leaves money to the poor of Rochester and of Nassington, Northants.
Richard Barnewell, of the parish of St. Botolph without Aldgate, citizen and cordwainer, in his will, dated 8 Oct., proved P.C.C. (103 Lawe) 17 Oct., 1614, mentions his wife Elizabeth ; his brother Giles Barne- well and his wife Julian and son Giles ; the children of his nephew Christopher Barnwell ; his sister Anne Jones and her children ; and Elizabeth Slater, daughter of his former wife, and her children. A comparison of Christian names suggests that this Richard Barnewell and the Barne- wells of Rochester were descended from or related to the Barnwell family that was for some time settled at Cransley, Northants (cf. Metcalfe, ' Visitation of Northants, 1564,' and the ' Visitations of Norfolk, 1563, 1589, and 1613,' published by the Harleian Society). CANTIANTJS.
BREMBRE OR BRAMBRE (10 S. x. 306, 458). I have made many vain efforts to discover whether the lands in Egham forfeited by Brembre when attainted were those con- ferred upon him when knighted in 1381. I do not remember the name being spelt " Bramber," in any records I have seen, yet Mr. Oman in his book ' The Great Revolt of 1381' calls him "Bramber," but in a letter I have from that gentleman he writes " Brember." F. TURNER.
Egham.
