12 S. I. JAN. 29, 1916.]
NOTES AND QUERIES.
91
"Colly my cow!"—In 'The Ring and the Book' (book xi. 1. 553), Browning puts into the mouth of Guido the exclamation, "Colly my cow!" It is apparently contemptuous, and even insulting. Can any one explain its origin? Dr. Berdoe, whose 'Browning Cyclopædia' professes to tackle "all difficult passages," passes over it in silence, and the only references to the phrase which I have discovered are not very helpful. They are as follows:—
1. From Dr. Brewer's 'Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,' p. 275:—
"Colly my Cow. A corruption of Calainos, the most ancient of Spanish ballads. Calainos the Moor asked a damsel to wife, who said the price of winning her should be the heads of the three paladins of Charlemagne," &c.
2. Dr. Wright's 'English Dialect Dictionary' quotes "Sing, oh poor Colly, Colly my cow," from Halliwell, 'Nursery Rhymes,' 86. It explains that Colly is, in some parts of England, "a term of endearment for a cow." A. K. C.
JAMES GORDON, KEEPER OF THE MIDDLE
TEMPLE LIBRARY. Mr. R. A. Ingpen
('Middle Temple Bench Book,' p. 397)
notes that James Gordon, "third son of
Harry Gordon of Gordonfield, Aberdeenshire," was called to the Bar in 1790, and
became Keeper of the Middle Temple
Library. His services were dispensed with in
May, 1827 (1821?), and he was granted a
"pension of 40l. a year." Is this the James
Gordon of the Middle Temple who tried to
prove that his father, Col. Harry Gordon,
R.E., of Knockespock, Aberdeenshire, had
not married the lady who was the mother
of his elder brothers? The case (1818-21)
is fully set out in Swanston's 'Report of
Cases' (i. 166; ii. 409-82). J. M. Bulloch.
BATH CORPORATION SEAL : Du BARRY'S
RAPIER. In Vatel's ' Memoirs of Madame
du Barry ' it is stated that Jean Baptiste du
Barry (dit Adolphe), the only son of the man
who planned and carried through the in-
trigue by which Jeanne Becu, the daughter
of a domestic servant, was brought to the
knowledge of Louis XV., was killed in 1778
(Nov. 10) in a duel which took place at Bath.
The hilt of his sword, it is asserted, was
picked up on the field, and " sert de cachet
a la municipalite de Bath." Is there any
foundation for this statement, and does the
Bath Museum contain M. du Barry's broken pier? L. G. R.
QUEEN ANNE'S THREE REALMS. Pope
writes the well-known line in his 'Rape of the Lock':
Here, Thou, Great Anna, whom three Realms obey.
I wonder what three realms Pope referred to. It is true that Queen Anne's style and dignity was "Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland." Are these the three realms to which he referred? Surely an educated man in Queen Anne's reign would not have regarded her as Queen of France. Trin. Coll. Camb.}}
MARQUESS OF CARNARVON. When was
the Marquisate of Carnarvon created, and in
which year did it lapse? Aneurin Williams.
A COFFIN-SHAPED GARDEN BED. I have
just read parts of Eva Lathbury's 'The
Shoe Pinches: a Tale of Private Life and
Public Tendency.' The scene of chap. vi.
is laid in a garden where " there are a number
of flower-beds cut into quaint devices, stars
and hearts and coffins, full of June flowers."
Only this morning I complained of a long
bed, on a lawn in which I am interested,
not having the lines of its sides parallel to
each other. I was told they were as they
should be, as the bed was a coffin. This
strikes me as being an ill-omened thing to
have cut into the sod of one's plaisance.
Can any one say whether it be a customary
memento mori, or give another reason for the
adoption of the form, not otherwise appropriate, or, to my thinking, beautiful? St. Swithin.
Replies.
THE EFFECT OF OPENING A COFFIN.
(11 S. xii. 300, 363, 388, 448, 465.)
So far, the most famous instance in modern times of coffin-opening has not been referred to. I beg leave to give some details of this and of a few other cases which have not as yet been included in the printed replies.
In 1840, when Thiers was head of the French Government, consent was obtained by him from England for the exhumation of Napoleon's body at St. Helena, and for its removal to the banks of the Seine. The frigate Belle Poule was chartered for the purpose, and at midnight Oct. 14-15, 1840; the opening of the grave at St. Helena was begun. The work proved arduous, and it was not until 2.43 P.M. on Oct. 15 that the
