His feet pierced in the same way. Around the whole is a circle containing the following address to the Virgin: 'Aue piissima ugo Maria q' es rubens rosa et sup omne creatura indumentu divini amoris induta.'"
The work is enriched with a fine plate of the above. Catherine S. Hall.
Divination by Twitching (11 S. viii. 187).—It may interest W. H.-A. to learn that in Ulster the superstition exists that a certain irritation over the eye or in the bend of the elbow foretells a visitor, and is called "an insleep." In my youth it was a very common occurrence for a maid to say, "I'd best get the spare-room ready, ma'am, for I had the quare insleep in my arm this day."
The really strange thing is that the unexpected guest was sure to come!
W. H.-A. asks for further examples of this superstition. Two can be quoted from classical authors. The shepherd in Theocritus's third 'Idyll' takes the twitching of his right eye as a sign that he will see his sweetheart (1. 37):—
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Greek characters)
Similarly in Plautus, 'Pseudolus,' 105, the twitching of the eyebrow is interpreted as presaging a coming event:—
Ita supercilium salit.
The Marquessate of Lincolnshire and the Earles of Lincoln (11 S. viii. 46, 111, 193, 210).—Are there not some serious errors of date in J. C. R.'s contribution on the above subject? I will limit myself to the last two paragraphs on p. 112 and the first on p. 113.
As to the first of these paragraphs, John de Lascy or Laci died, not in "1258," but in July, 1240, and was buried at Stanlaw Abbey, which his grandfather had founded sixty-two years before. John was succeeded by his son Edmund, who died in 1257; and the latter was followed by his only son Henry, who became the greatest De Laci of them all. In the second paragraph this Henry is said to have died in "1272"; but the great Earl lived till 5 Feb., 1311, and was buried during the same month in Old St. Paul's. It was about the year 1272 when he received full investiture of his earldom of Lincoln.
The third paragraph makes Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, acquire the earldom of Lincoln in 1272; but the event did not occur till nearly forty years later, when Henry de Laci died. The error may be best corrected by Hemingburgh (vol. ii. p. 74), who says:—
"Eodem anno obiit comes Lincolniensis Henricus, cui successit filia sua unica, quam comes de Lancastria duxerat in uxorem, et sic accreverunt ei duo comitatus cum honore de Pontefracto; factusque est extunc comes ditissimus, habens integros quinque comitatus."
The last words refer to the five earldoms of Lancaster, Chester, Leicester, Lincoln, and Salisbury. Samuel Compston.
"Whistling Oyster" (11 S. viii. 208).—This is described on p. 156 of the work on Covent Garden by Mr. Reginald Jacobs, reviewed ante, p. 98:—
"In Vinegar Yard stood a small tavern, or oyster and refreshment rooms, known as 'The Whistling Oyster,' and, according to Walford, a haunt of Bohemians and artists. The sign of the house was a humorous picture of a gigantic oyster whistling a tune, with a twinkle in its eye. The tale goes that about 1840 the proprietor, when passing a tub filled with delicate 'natives,' heard a curious (as the French would say) 'sifflement,' and on investigation found that one of the oysters was actually whistling."
Thereupon the oyster was removed and placed by itself, and the house was soon besieged by people to view the phenomenon. The cause of the whistling was ascribed to the existence of a small hole in the shell, and the action of breathing probably caused the noise which gave it fame. Native.
"Buds of Marjoram" (11 S. viii. 169, 212).—Shakespeare's marjoram is usually sweet marjoram, otherwise marjoram gentle, the flowers of which are white, and probably it is of this variety that he speaks here, the flowers of this and the preceding sonnet being mostly garden flowers. In any case the meaning is not clear. Canon Ellacombe says:—
"The comparison of a man's hair to the buds of Marjoram is not very intelligible, but probably it was a way of saying that the hair was golden."
The colour of wild marjoram flowers is a reddish purple. Sweet marjoram was cultivated for its scent. Rapin's lines may, perhaps, throw some light on Shakespeare's meaning: he may have had the same legend in mind. I quote from Gardiner's translation:
And tho' Sweet Marjoram will your Garden paint
With no gay Colours, yet preserve the Plant,
Whose Fragrance will invite your kind Regard,
When her known Virtues have her Worth declar'd:
On Simoïs Shore fair Venus rais'd the Plant,
Which from the Goddess, Touch deriv'd her Scent.
The Greeks of the classical period are said to have crowned young married couples
