The British Army: Mascots.—I would be much obliged if you could let me know where I can have full information and photographs about pets and mascots in the British Army. Is there any book on the subject? Dr. Sée.
Hôpital 23, Houlgate (Calvados), France.
"Fat, fair, and forty."—This alliteration has been attributed to the Prince Regent as descriptive of what a wife should be. Douglas Jerrold is reported to have said that such a wife would be all very well if you could do with her as you could with a bank note, viz., change her. when you felt so inclined, for two of twenty. With regard to the alliteration, I find in Bartlett's 'Familiar Quotations,' in a note to a quotation from Dryden, p. 275, a reference to Scott's 'St. Ronan's Well,' chap, vii., where "a comely dame" is spoken of as "Fat, fair, and forty," and also a reference to a letter of Mrs. Richard Trench of Feb. 18, 1816, in which she writes: "Lord ——— is going to marry Lady ———, a fat, fair, and fifty cardplaying resident of the Crescent."
In canto i. stanza 62 of 'Don Juan,' Byron, referring to Donna Julia, says:—
Wedded she was some years, and to a man
Of fifty, and such husbands are in plenty;
And yet, I think, instead of such a One
'Twere better to have Two of five-and-twenty,
Especially in countries near the sun;
And now I think on't, "mi vien in mente,"
Ladies even of the most uneasy virtue
Prefer a spouse whose age is short of thirty.
Does this witticism appear anywhere before the publication of 'Don Juan'? Harry B. Poland.
Inner Temple.
BARON WESTBURY : MOCK EPITAPH. (See
11 S.xii. 422, 464.) Would SIR HARRY B.
POLAND be good enough to state, for the
benefit of those who are not lawyers, what
is the meaning of :
" He abolished the time-honoured institution of the Insolvents' Court, the ancient mode of conveying land, and the eternity of punish- Also
" He dismissed Hell with costs, and took away from orthodox members of the Church of Eng land their last Hope of Eternal Damnation " ?
BARRULE.
GUNFIRE AND RAIN. Can any reader
of ' N. & Q.' bring forward evidence to show
that the belief, which one hears constantly
expressed, that heavy gunfire causes rain,
has a foundation in fact ?
E. C. WIENHOLT.
ECCLESIASTICAL FOLK-LORE. The Casu-
ists (e.g. S. Alphonsus de Ligorio, 4. i. 1,
quoting Busembaum) condemn as super-
stitious such practices as hearing Mass
before sunrise with candles arranged in a
particular order, position, or number, or
said by a priest named John, or by one of
the exact stature of Christ. Is there other
evidence of these superstitions, and of what
date are they ? S. G.
AUTHORS WANTED. A poem, ' The Swords of India,' dedicated to H.H. the Maharaja of Mysore, appeared in a news- paper some months ago, but the name of the author was not appended. The name of the newspaper (with date of issue) and the author's name required. A. B.
Can any one inform me who wrote, and where I could obtain, the homely country poem beginning as under ?
A friend of mine was married to a scold ;
To me he came and all his troubles told.
Said he, " She's like a woman raving mad."
Said 1, " My friend, that 's very bad. '
" No, not so bad," said he,
" For with her I had house, lands, and money, too."
Said I, " My friend, that was well for you."
" No, not so well," said he
I am unable to quote the rest. I shall be obliged for information. C. B.
I have a little calendar for the year 1796, wanting its title-page. It includes several pages of ' Poetry for the Ladies,' and the first of the poems is an ' Elegy on Retire- ment,' which begins :
Silent and clear thro' yonder peaceful vale, While Marne's slow waters wave their mazy way,
See, to th' exulting sun, and fost'ring gale, What boundless treasures his rich fruit display.
The fifth verse says :
dire effects of war ! The time has been When desolation vaunted here her reign ;
One ravag'd desert was yon beauteous scene, And Marne ran purple to the frighted Seine.
Who is the author of this elegy ?
I. Y.
THE MORAY MINSTRELS. A recent obi- tuary notice of a musical amateur described him as " one of the original members of the Moray Minstrels." My only recollection of that body was that the programme of the amateur performance on behalf of the family of the late C. H. Bennett (a well- known artist, and illustrator of publications
which appeared 1855-65) at the Theatre
Royal, Adelphi, on May 11, 1867, includes :
" Those Celebrated Amateurs, the ' Moray
Minstrels,' will sing the following glees, part
