330 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. v. APKIL 27, 1912.
Balland of Lord Land the Lady Nancy Bell.—To what Lord Lovel, when, and where, "did the old ballad refer, the first and ninth stanzas of which were as follow:—
Lord Lovel he stood at his castle gate
A-combing his milk-white steed,
When up came Lady Nancy Bell
To wish her lover good speed.
••••••Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras Church,
Lord Lovel was laid in the quire,
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of her lover's a brier.
PRO VERBS AND PHRASES : 1. THE DUTCH-
MAN' S ANCHOR. When an article has been
left at home, I have often heard the remark,
" It is like the Dutchman's anchor, at
home." Can anybody tell me the origin of
this ? A. G. KALEY.
2. " SATAN REBUKING SIN." What is the origin of this saying ? J. D.
VICARS OF ST.' LEONARD, EXETER. Infor- mation is sought respecting any of the following : (1) Nicholas Redwood (1675-8) ; (2) Thomas Lee (1691-1708); (3) George Moore (1767-78) ; (4) Samuel Ryder Weston (1778-80); (5) William Sweet (1827-31); (6) Edward Houlditch (1831-40). Please reply direct.
T. CANN HUGHES, M.A., F.S.A.
78, Church Street, Lancaster.
HERALDIC CHARGE : ITS MEANING. Will some reader of ' N. & Q.' please say what the Moor's head, right arm, and dagger on some coats of arms mean ? UPTA.
LONGEVITY ON THE BORDERS OF THE SEA. Writing in 1830, Christopher Anderson (in his ' Historical Sketches of the Native Irish and their Descendants ') remarks thai in each of the four Irish provinces instances of longevity are most numerous in the counties bordering on the sea. He takes the figures from the last Census of his time
Does the same proportion exist now in Ireland and Great Britain as regards the seacoast ? WILLIAM MACARTHUR.
Dublin.
I'ANSON. What is the explanation of this surname thus written though I think I have seen it " lanson " ? J. T. F,
Winterton, Lines.
BAKER PETER SMITH. Some account o this author or a reference to a life of him i desired by J. H. R.
"ETHROG."
(11 S. v. 249.)
INFORMATION about this word may be found n the ' Jewish Encyclopaedia,' in Buxtorf 's l<exicon, and in Smith's ' Dictionary of the Bible' (iii. 1421). The word occurs in the Targum, but not in Biblical Hebrew, and is used to designate the citron (Kirpov), the 'itrus medico, cedra, the Median apple (malum medicum of Pliny). The " ethrog " is used with the " lulab " (the sacred fasciculus) at jhe Feast of Tabernacles. By tradition " the Tuit of the goodly tree " in Lev. xxiii. 40 is taken to be the citron. It is supposed to be a lucky thing to see an " ethrog " in a dream, as this is regarded as an assurance that the dreamer is precious before the Creator. It is believed that a woman with child who bites into an " ethrog " will bear a male child.
One of the Arabic names for the citron is turujja, a word derived from the same root as the Targum word " ethrog."
Much interesting information about the cultivation of the citron is to be found in Hehn's ' Wanderings of Plants.' We are told there that in many parts of Italy the fruit was cultivated solely for the Jews at their Feast of Tabernacles.
For ceremonies connected with taking the " lulab," see Authorized Daily Prayer Book (Hebrew and English), p. 218, and ' Jewish Encyclopaedia. ' A. L. MAYHEW.
Oxford.
This interesting query calls for extended explication, especially as it affords a favour- able opportunity to throw light on an admittedly obscure passage in Scripture Prov. xxv. 11. Now if I have carefully garnered in the spirit of a somewhat alle- gorical passage in the Talmud, Eruchin 32, the Biblical ordinance of Lev. xxiii. 40,* known to us as " the arbang mineem " four " favoured " kinds of Nature's handiwork viz., the esroug, the lulav, hadissim, and ngarvi nachal, distinctively associated with the ritual (domestic and synagogal) of the Feast of Tabernacles, was not a permanent feature thereof until Ezra set the seal of his mighty genius on Judaism, somewhere between the years 480 and 440 B.C. Whether this theory be correct or not, it is
- "Boughs of goodly trees" in the Authorized
Version of the Bible, but " the fruit of goodly trees " in the Revised Version.
