388
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vn. MAY 17, 1913.
JANE AUSTEN'S ' LADY SUSAN.' The
St. James's Gazette of Thursday, 24 April,
contained a literary article signed by Mr.
W. H. Pollock, in which the writer spoke of
Miss Austen's novel ' Lady Susan,' and com-
mented on her drawing of Lady Susan's
character as though it would necessarily be
familiar to the reader. The ' D.N.B.,' in an
article now nearly thirty years old, mentions
a novel by Miss Austen called * Lady Susan,'
but does not say whether it was ever pub-
lished. I imagine that, if it had seen the
light, every one would have heard of. it.
If the MS. is in existence, as it must be
or Mr. Pollock could not refer to it why
has it not been printed ? B. B.
[The novel in question is little more than a frag- ment, but it is included in the later editions of the
- Memoir of Jane Austen ' by J. E. Austen Leigh,
now available in the "Eversley Series."]
" SKIMMITY-RIDE."
" ' Oh, sir ! 'tis a' old foolish thing they do in these parts when a man's wife is well, not too
particularly his own.' 'Yes. Two images on a
donkey, back to back, their elbows tied to one another's ! She 's facing the head, and he 's facing the tail.' "
The rude music of the " skimmington " con- sisted of cleavers, tongs, tambourines, kits, crouds, humstrums, serpents, and ram's- horns. A crowd of irresponsible persons marched with these through the town and past the residence of the couple represented.
WAKING BEES AT A DEATH.
" It was the universal custom thereabout to wake the bees by tapping at their hives whenever a death occurred in the household, under the belief that if this were not done the bees themselves would pine away and perish during the ensuing year."
The foregoing are two incidents from Thomas Hardy's novels. Can any one say if these practices, or either of them, were common, or even known, in any other parts of the country than Wessex ? If so, at what period ? Any reply, direct or otherwise, will be esteemed. R. BURNETT.
2, Rubislaw Place, Aberdeen.
[Both customs have been discussed at consider- able length in * N. & Q.'
MR. J. S. UDAL at 9 S. ii. 56 cited a number of authorities for the history of the " skimmington or skimmity riding," including a paper by himself in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, vol. xiv. The custom is also known as "riding the stang," and at 8 S. iv. 267 will be found numerous references to earlier contributions under that heading.
The practice of "telling the bees" goes back to the time of the Greeks. See 7 S. x. 126, 177, 234, 312 ; 10 S. viii. 329 ; ix. 433 ; x. 97. At the penulti- mate reference many books in which the custom is discussed are mentioned by MR. HOLDEN MAC- MICHAEL.]
PAGET AND CHESTER, In Praed's poem
c The Chant of the Brazen Head ' occur these
lines :
I think that, thanks to Pagefs lance, And thanks to Chester's learning,
The hearts that burn' d for fame in France At home are safe from burning.
Who were Chester and Paget ? and what did they do ? And what mean the words that refer to " burning " ?
JOHN JAMES BRITTON,
" CLOUDSLEY BUSH," WARWICKSHIRE. Dugdale in his ' Antiquities of Warwickshire ' says, regarding this place :
" I have now but a word or two more to say, and then I shall leave this great parish of Monkskirby ; which is to observe that part of the old Roman way, called Fosse, leading through it, lies open like a ditch, having not been filled with stones and gravel in such sort as in most places it is. And, that on the west side thereof stands an eminent tumulus whereupon a beacon is now situate, but anciently some noted bush, as it is like, in regard it bears the name of ' Cloudsley Bush ' to this day.
It is hard to guess whether' this had at first its
name from one Claudius, a Roman soldier whose place of sepulture it was, or from the British word 'claude' signifying a ditch, because it is so near the fosse. There are here the manor-house and a cottage."
I Wonder whether any readers of ' N. & Q.' would express an opinion as to the above derivation of the name " Cloudsley," or possibly suggest another explanation of its origin.
The only other instance of its appearance as a place-name is in an old ballad of Adam Bell, in which William of Cloudesly is men- tioned. HUGH CLOUDSLEY,
Brightlands, Reigate, Surrey.
THOMAS WASHINGTON THE YOUNGER " translated out of the French," in 1585,
" The Navigations, Peregrinations, and Voyages made into Turkic by Nicholas Nicholay Daul- phinois, Lord Arfevile, Chamberlaine and Geographer Ordinarie to the King of France, con- taining Sundry Singularities which the Author hath there Seene and Observed," &c.
Is anything known of this Thomas Wash- ington ?
SAMUEL HARMAR. I shall be glad of information concerning Samuel Harmar, who was the author of a book entitled
" Vox Populi or Glostersheres Desire : with the Way and Means to make a Kingdome Happy (by God's help). By setting up of Schoolemasters in every Parish throughout the Land generally......
And for the removing of the three Capitall enormi- ties of this Land, viz. Ignorance, Prophanesse and Idlenesse," &c.
When was the book published ?
A. C. C.
