10 s. XL FEB. 6, 1909.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
107
by the exhibition of a stuffed effigy of a
female, which was called " Sheely." Fearon
seems to have written " Frenchmen " for
" Welshmen." RICHARD H. THORNTON.
36, Upper Bedford Place.
CHURCH PLATE. The following pieces of church plate were sold at Messrs. Christie's on 10 December last.
Flagon and cover from Sunningwell, Berk- shire, Charles II.
Chalice from Ellesmere, 1710.
Tazza, 1705, from Kempley.
ANDREW OLIVER.
" ' THAT 's ANOTHER STORY,' AS KIPLING SAYS." This has become a stereotyped expression. Many people probably made the remark before Kipling was born. Sterne, -at all events, did so in ' Tristram Shandy,' chap, xvii., towards the end of ' The Ser- mon ' : " ' That 's another story,' replied my father." THETA.
WE must request correspondents desiring in-
formation on family matters of only private interest
to affix their names and addresses to their queries,
in order that answers may be sent to them direct.
SIR WALTER SCOTT ON THE SCOTCH AND THE IRISH. In Truth for 13 January there is a statement (p. 84) that " Sir Walter Scott found a family likeness between hit- own people and the Welsh and Irish." Can any reader direct me to the original passage ? I ask because I judge from the context that the writer in Truth is making the common blunder of forgetting that the Highland Line divides Scotland into two nationalities, as distinct as French and English. Sir Walter, I opine, knew British history too well to find family likeness between any " Celtic " race and the Lowland Scotch, who are merely Englishmen sepa- rated by an accident of history from their Southern brethren. He might conceivably have referred to such a likeness as existing between the Highland Scotch and the Irish, since the Highlanders are chiefly of Irish origin, as their name of " Scot " indicates. JAS. PLATT, Jun.
" REALM " : ITS PRONUNCIATION. There is little doubt that the old pronunciation of this word was raim. A Jacobean poet (I cannot recollect the reference) rimes realms with James, the I being silent, as in alms, balm, calm, &c. The old spelling
was reem (' Prompt. Parv.') or reme, Reamys
occurs in Wright, ' Political Poems and
Songs' (1429), ii. 146.
Can further confirmatory rimes be pro- duced ? A. SMYTHE PALMER.
MURAT'S WIDOW : EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE. 1. Caroline Murat, widow of the King of Naples, remarried, I think, in 1818. Did she leave any family by her second tmsband ? and who was he ?
2. Marie Louise, on receipt of news of the decease of Napoleon in 1821, married her lover. Did she leave any family by this second marriage ? CHARLES J. HILL.
Belmont Lodge, Waterford.
[See 'The Women Bonapartes,' oy H. Noel Williams, and ' The Sisters of Napoleon,' by Joseph Turquan, translated by W. R. H. Trowbridge, both published last year.]
SEA-NAMES. In Orkney and Shetland, as it is considered unlucky, when at sea, to call anything by its ordinary name, every- thing has one or more special sea-names, e.g., the sun is called feger, Old Norse, meaning " fair," which is also used as a kenning or periphrasis for the sun in the ' Elder Edda ' (alvissmal), fagrahvel, " fair wheel " (see Jakobsen's ' Shetland Ordbog ').
It would be interesting to know whether the custom of using sea-names is in vogue in any other places, and if so, whether such names preserve old words and poetic names, as in Orkney and Shetland.
A. W. JOHNSTON.
FIG TREE IN THE CITY. Some time ago there used to exist near Aldgate Pump a fig tree. Its destruction was threatened a few years ago. Was it ever preserved in any way, or transplanted ? I do not know in what way it became " historic," as it was considered, excepting in the matter of age ; but it may have had some historic associa- tions. Does it still flourish ? If so, where ? J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
MOHAMMEDAN AND CHRISTIAN CHRONO- LOGY. The following rules for changing A.H. into A.D. dates I take from an old class notebook.
1. From the A.H. deduct 3 per cent, taking account of two decimals.
2. Add the fixed number 621.57.
3. Add to the decimals 2 per cent of the A.H. date.
The result will be A.D. date, Old Style. The decimals represent the portion of the Christian year elapsed before the beginning of the Hegira year, each hundred standing for 365 days.
