210
NOTES AND QUERIES, no s. VIIL SEPT. M, 1907.
HOBSESHOE SUPEBSTITION: HOLLY LODGE,
HIGHGATE. This building is exposed to
changes and chances which may end in its
disappearance. Before it becomes a mere
memory I would ask whether the amulet
which once protected it from the entrance
of malignant spirits has been conserved
in statu quo up to the present century.
" One of the weaknesses of the late Duchess
of St. Albans," wrote Sir Henry Ellis in his
edition of Brand's ' Popular Antiquities '
(vol. iii. p. 18),
"which was displayed by her grace in early life and one which did not fail to operate upon her actions, was that of an excessive degree of super- stition. To such an extent, indeed, was the feeling carried by Mr. Coutts, as well as by herself, that they caused two rusty old broken horseshoes to be fastened on the highest marble step by which the house of Holly Lodge was entered from the lawn." A clerical friend of my own has quite a bouquet of old horseshoes hanging adjacent to the front-door bell of his parsonage. I do not know what effect he expects them to have. They offend my aesthetic senti- ment, though they please my sense of humour. ST. SWITHIN.
of its names is " sisters of mercy." A Lin-
colnshire woman calls Eschscholtzia cali-
fornica " Indian poppy," though it is usually
"skolcher." P. W. G. M.
ST. MARY MAGDALENE'S HAIB. Richard Graves the author of 'The Spiritual Quixote,' wrote as follows :
" Some commentators are of opinion that the hair of her head, with which Mary Magdalene wiped our Saviour's feet, was really a tete, or a set of false curls, which she might employ in that manner to express her detestation of the wanton and dissolute life which she had formerly led." Vol. i. p. 140, Ed. 1820.
This seems to have been written seriously. As Graves was a man possessed of a con- siderable amount of learning, it is not pro- bable he would make such a statement with- out some authority. To what commentators does he refer ? K. P. D. E.
LAPLACE'S DYING SAYING. A. E. Taylor,
'The Problem of Conduct,' 1901, p. 266,
says :
" It is impossible not to feel that there was an ele- ment of truth as well as of pathos in the remark which the dying Laplace is truly or falsely said to have ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN IN 1349. Can uttered about the ( labours embodied m his
I I . Xl.4- ' . * 'T'rt4- rmln irrviTO'7_'\rr\n SI Tl f
any contributor kindly say who was bishop in 1349 ? Port St. Mary.
CHARLES SWYNNERTON.
des blagues ; rien
On whose authority does this utterance of
the great mathematician reach us ?
M. P.
LAWS OF GBAVITY AND THE ANCIENT
GBEEKS. Is there any evidence, actual
LOBD TREASURER GODOLPHIN. Sir God-
frey Kneller's portrait of him is engraved
in 1747 in Houbraken and Vertue's ' Heads,'
where it is stated that the picture is " in i ~,*.~.~- ./
the collection of his Grace the Duke of New- or inferential, of the extent of the pnysi<
castle." It is also engraved in 1834 in knowledge of the ancient Greeks .'
Lodge's ' Portraits,' where it is stated that curious to know if I am justified m asst
the picture is " in the collection of the Duke that they had a perception ol gravity,
of Marlborough at Blenheim." although doubtless not aware of its
Where is KneUer's picture now ?
G. A. M. HANCOCK. I should be much obliged if
PLANT-NAMES. A Lincolnshire girl says any one could give me information with
"At Dunham-on-Trent, in East Netting- regard to the parentage and early J
hamshire, they call what we call broom Saul Tysoe Hancock, who was a surgeon
genet, and an old woman there told me that a Bengal and an intimate friend of We
Y . . , I . -f-w- _ J T\l_ .M J 1 M.l in A -n c T C*Y\
king of England used to wear it in his cap.
Is this old French name for Cytisus scoparius
preserved in other English counties ?
Picturesque country names seem to be still coined for plants of comparatively recent introduction into England, if they are not transferred to them from other flowers. The yellow, winter-flowering jessa- mine is at times spoken of as " naked lady " at Lincoln, because it blossoms when bare
Hastings. He married Philadelphia Austen
in 1753, and died in 1775. B. A. A. L
"DiEU DONE TOUT." Is the motto " Dieu done [sic] tout " that of any English family ? A stone fireplace at Coventry date 1563 is engraved with these
(Miss) M. DORMER HARRIS. 16, Gaveston Road, Leamington.
DICKENS QUOTATION. Can you give me a
of leaf. In Lincolnshire, also, Limnanthes \ reference to Dickens for the quotation, "An douglasii is at times "charity" or "fair old soldier says to a youth/ ^Be sure to butti maids of France " while in Lancashire one I your bread on both sides '
G. J. G.
