416
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. I. MAY 21, '98,
one of the early distinguishing marks of a
leader before crests became necessary as dis-
tinguishing marks. In a fresco in the Ritter-
Saal of this old castle Rudolph of Habsburg,
the founder, is represented with peacock's
feathers in his helmet, and although the
picture is modern, the authority from which
it is taken is good. Several of the German
reigning families bear feathers or wings as
crests, and the history of the Prince of Wales's
feathers is well known. In later heraldry
the wing would appear to have been adopted
not so much as a distinguishing crest, but
as a background or foundation on which to
display the crest and to serve the purpose
that the wreath does with us. The crest is
frequently a repetition of the charge of the
coat on a wing of the same tincture as the
coat. Thus the family which for four hundred
years inhabited this old place bears as arms
a red mountain on a silver field. The crest
is the same red mountain on a silver or white
wing. A neighbour has for arms a red
crosslet on a silver field. The crest is the red
crosslet on a similar wing; and many like
instances might be quoted. The families are
in no way connected, and one can hardly say
there is any resemblance in the " crests," the
distinguishing mark being the " charge," or
red mountain or red crosslet, and the wing
being as common to most crests as the wreath
is with us. J. H. RIVETT-CARNAC,
Colonel and A.D.C. to the Queen. Schloss Wildeck, Switzerland.
" NOBODY'S ENEMY BUT HIS OWN " (8 th S. x. 395, 498 ; xi. 312). There is mention of this proverb, together with an occasional variant, at p. 53 of ' Diseases of the Soule,' written by Thomas Adams, and published in 1616 : " His father was no mans friend but his owne ; and he (saith the Prouerbe) is no mans foe else." This is not quite so old as the example quoted at the last reference ; it bears witness, how- ever, to the vogue of a proverb hitherto met with but rarely in our older literature, and derived perhaps, as I have some reason to suspect, from the writings of Chrysostom.
F. ADAMS.
STONYHURST CRICKET (9 th S. i. 361). MR. NORMAN will find full information about this game in the ' Stonyhurst Centenary Record,' by Rev. J. Gerard, pp. 179-182 (Marcus Ward). MR. NORMAN'S difficulty about " missing catches " is caused by his not having noticed that Mr. Fitzgerald, whose ' Stony- hurst Memories' he is quoting, has passed, between the two passages quoted, from one game to another quite different. For two different passages are quoted in the note,
taken from distinct paragraphs, but without
any mark of omission. Stonyhurst cricket
was played on gravel ; and as the batsman
had always to hit hard merely stopping a
ball (" blocking ") was out there was a very
large amount of catching to be done by
the three or four fielders " fags " they were
called. Hence Stonyhurst catching was
famous in those days. I may add that the
balls were made by the boys themselves
during Lent, with wool dipped in glue
wrapped tightly round a core of list. These
were then covered by the shoemaker, who
complained of sometimes having to cut off
projecting knobs !
The other game alluded to in MR. NORMAN'S quotation was "second bounce," a peculiar form of handball, played with the delicate india-rubber balls mentioned in the note. A good player would hit these with such force against the wall that they went out thirty or forty yards. Hence there was a great amount of ground to cover, and the game required great skill. It was a special development of Stonyhurst " handball," played only on a few occasions by picked players (see * Stonyhurst Record,' p. 189). PREFECT OF STUDIES.
SOURCE OF QUOTATION WANTED (9 th S. i. 249). The following quotation from Cardinal Newman is in my commonplace book. I send it on because it is so much like that given by G. S., but I regret that I am unable to locate it :
" It is often said that second thoughts are best. So they are in matters of judgment, but not in matters of conscience. In matters of duty first thoughts are commonly best. They have more in them of the voice of God."
JOHN T. PAGE.
West Haddon, Northamptonshire.
The author of the ' Characteristics ' made frequent use of Jeremy Taylor's works, and may have derived the sentence about first thoughts from him. The 'Ductor,' bk. i. c. i. rule vi., has :
" In matters of conscience, that is the best sense I which every wise man takes in before he hath , sullied his understanding with the designs of sophisters and interested persons." Vol. ix. p. 45, Eden. It is at least a parallel passage.
The passage from the ' Characteristics ' is i from ' Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour.' Sect. i. is :
"In the main, 'tis best to stick to common sense, and go no further. Men's first thoughts in this matter are generally better than their second : their natural notions better than those refin'o^by study, or consultation with casuists." Vol. i., 1749, p. 89.
ED. MARSHALL, F.S.A.
