150
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. AUG. 24, 1907.
announced as by the author of ' Margaret and her
Bridesmaids,' and the life of Mrs. Anne Marsh-
Caldwell in the 'D.N.B.' (xxxvi. 219), stated to be
partly founded on information supplied by her
daughter, concludes with this paragraph: "Mrs.
Marsh-Caldwell has been wrongly credited with
Mrs. Stratton's ' Margaret and her Bridesmaids,'
and other books published as by the author of that
work." Both the London Library Catalogue and
Halkett and Laing seem therefore in error in
attributing ' The "Valley of a Hundred Fires ' to
Mrs. Anne Marsh (b. 1791, d. 5 Oct., 1874), of
whom a very interesting obituary appeared in The
Athenaeum of 17 Oct., 1874.1
AMINTAS LEGEND. Where can I find the legend of Amintas changed into the amar- anth flower, as recorded by Spenser, ' F. Q.,' III. vi. 45 ? H. N. ELLACOMBE.
Bitton Vicarage, Bristol.
AUTHORS OF QUOTATIONS WANTED. A friend of mine wishes to know the source of the following lines :
In old Norse ballad have I heard
How Odin and his sons and daughters Set out to find the fount of Urd
And drink its pure, life-giving waters. Further, who is the author of
the virtue lies In the struggle, not the prize ?
M. B. L.
SCHOOL, FOR THE INDIGENT BLIND. This charity was formerly established in St. George's Fields. Can any reader inform me where its annual reports from 1800 to 1819 inclusive, as also those for 1827, 1831, and 1834, can be obtained ? They were printed by the Philanthropic Society, St. George's Fields. J. E. D. H.
SPOON AND HAIR. Upwards of three years ago I kept my golden wedding, and I advertised in The Times the usual details. A few days afterwards a letter of con- gratulation came from a lady who was my late wife's bosom friend before her marriage ; but in the envelope came a spoon broken in half. Of course my wife acknowledged the letter, but never asked what the spoon meant. Now this lady has sent a letter of sympathy, and in the envelope a small quantity of hair. These two peculiar (to us) symbols bother myself and family. If any one can explain the meaning of them I shall be much obliged.
WALTER M. WALMISLEY.
HODSON= FERRERS. Any clue to the marriage of Nathaniel Hodson to Anne Ferrers, of the family of Earl Ferrers will oblige. A. C. H.
"YEOMAN SERVICE."
(10 S. viii. 89.)
WE had a cavalry volunteer force called Yeomanry, which was formed during the wars of the French Revolution, its organiza- tion being by counties, under the lords- lieutenant, raised and drilled locally, the men providing their own horses and uniform. I am told by one who served in South Africa that in 1899 this force, or what remained of it, was dignified with the title of " Imperial " Yeomanry ; but recruits came to it from all quarters, as I know very well. The strange thing is that most people fancy that the Yeomanry has always been a mounted force. It was nothing of the sort in its origin, if we may judge by what Sir Thomas Smith says in his little book entitled ' The Common Wealth of England,' which was finished on
this day the eight and twenty of March, anno 1565, in the seventh yeerof the Raigne and Adminis- tration thereof by the most Religious, vertuous, and Noble Queene Elizabeth, Daughter to King Henry the Eighth, and in the one and fiftieth yeere of mine age, when I was Embassadour for her Majesty in the Court of France." Pp. 272-3, ed. London, 1640.
What yeomen were, and what their service, we find so clearly and eloquently stated in this interesting volume that I hope room may be found for the following extract, which is, one might say, the locus classicus on the subject. " Those whom wee call Yeomen, next unto the Nobilitie, Knights and Squires," says the learned writer,
"have the greatest charge and doings in the Com- mon-wealth, or rather are more travelled to serve in it then all the rest, as shall appeare hereafter. I call him a Yeoman, whom our Lawes do call Legalem hominem, a word familiar in Writs and Enquests, which is a free English man borne, and may dispend of his own free Land in yeerly revenue to the sum of forty shillings sterling. This maketh (if the just value were taken now to the proportion of monies) sixe pound of our currant money at this present. This sort of people confesse themselves to be no Gentlemen, but give the honour to all which bee, or take upon them to be Gentlemen, & yet have a certaine preheminence, and more esti- mation then Labourers and Artificers, and com- monly live wealthily, keepe good houses, and doe their businesse and travel! to acquire riches : these be (for the most part) Farmours unto Gentlemen, which with grazing, frequenting of Markets, and keeping Servants not idlely, as the Gentleman doth, but such as get both their owne living and part of their Masters', and by these meanes do come to such
