76
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io<- s. v. JAN. 27, 190*.
Mr. Derrick, Major Brereton, Capt. Wade,
Mr. Dawson, Mr. R. Tyson, Capt. J. King,
Mr. Le Bas, Mr. F. J. Guynette, Mr.
Heaviside, Capt. Wyke, Capt. Marshall, Col.
Jervois, Lieut. Nugent, Lieut.-Col. England,
Capt. Gataker, and Major Simpson (the
present holder of the office). Capt. Wade
(a natural son of Field-Marshal Wade) was,
as your correspondent surmises, the Master
of the Ceremonies at Brighton. W. T.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED (10 th S. iv. 168).
There is so much good in the worst of us, And so much bad in the best of us, That it ill becomes any of us To talk about the rest of us,
is from the pen of R. L. Stevenson, according to a 1906 Calendar published by R. A. Court, Caxton House, Nottingham (see month of March). CHAS. A. BERNAU.
JOHN PENHALLOW (10 th S. iv. 507 ; v. 15, 37). This name will be found in the * Calendar of the Inner Temple Records,' iii. 369. On 15, 16, 17, and 19 June, 1702, are the nomina- tions of those called to the Bar at the par- liament held on 23 June, together with the names of William Goodenough, John Pen- hallow, and William Courtney.
W. P. COURTNEY.
"WAS YOU?" AND "You WAS" (10 th S. i. 509 ; ii. 72, 157 ; v. 32). Some of your readers will remember that Horace Walpole declares in one of his letters that the invariable three questions of the royal family at a levee or drawing-room were : " Do you love riding ? " "Do you love music?" "Was you at the opera ? " NORTH MIDLAND.
SUICIDES BURIED IN THE OPEN FlELDS
(10 th S. iv. 346, 397, 475, 514). It must be remembered in connexion with this subject that all suicides were not punished in the same way. It was not a matter of law, but of custom, which was regulated by the monks, and which naturally varied in different places and at different times. While most suicides were buried at cross- roads, some were not buried at all ; some (those that had killed themselves in the sea' were buried on the coast; and some, as I uphold, were buried in the fields. These are, of course, a few only of the customs, and do not all relate to any one country <5i district. In 1 st S. vL 353 a case is cited of a burial at the junction of the estates of three different Flintshire landowners.
Suicides were under ecclesiastical dis- abilities, and were looked upon as irre-
vocably lost to religion. They were felons-
and traitors. It does not seem probable,
then, that they were buried at cross-roads-
merely to be under the protection of a cross
- hat was usually erected there. Such a.
thing seems contrary to the barbarity with vhich ithey were generally treated. As an example of what was not uncommon, I will- relate what occurred in France so late as 1749. The corpse of Portier, the suicide, was dragged through the streets of Paris, with its face scraping the ground, to the place of common execution. It was suspended there- by the feet for twenty-four hours, taken down, and flung on the highway to be devoured by beasts. Although France was on the whole more barbarous than we were,. a case of great brutality occurred in Scotland, as may be seen by referring to- 1 st S. v. 272.
There seems to be little doubt that the stake driven through a suicide was intended to keep his ghost from rising and disturbing the neighbourhood at nighty Whether it was or was not intended as an insult, it acted as one.
There is one thing that does not seem to have been well explained, and that is why these mysterious burials were by law obliged to take place in the dark, between certain hours. H. T. SMITH.
In the churchwardens' accounts of Wands- worth parish for the period 28 May, 1609, to- 15 March, 1610, occurs this entry : " Payd for Cou'ing a poore mans grave in the fielde, iij." Would this refer to a suicide not buried in the churchyard ? I may add that in the burial register there is no entry of any one- being buried in the fields. LIBRARIAN.
Wandsworth.
NAPOLEON'S CORONATION ROBE : ITS GOLI> BEES (10 th S. v. 9). The robes are, or re- cently were, to be seen atTussaud's Waxwork Exhibition in London. The bees with which they are thickly covered are made of gold thread, and, as far as can be made out, are so rendered in David's well-known Corona- tion picture at the Louvre, in Paris. It has often been suggested, and sometimes denied, that in his choice of the bee as an emblem Napoleon was influenced by the golden bees found in 1653 at Tournai, in the tomb of Childeric. Some of these are still to be seen in Paris. I believe in the same building as the Bibliotheque Nationale; but they are not welfi suited for robe decoration, and it is doubt- ful if there were ever enough of them for such a purpose.
H. J. O. WALKER, Lieut.- CoL
