9* S. III. MAY 20, '99.]
NOTES AND
385
, c< py of which is in ray own possession,
nti 'led " The Travels of foure English Men
nd a Preacher into Africa, &c. At London
mj rinted by Felix Kyngston 1612," the
voi I occurs in the singular at least four im< , of which the first occasion is in the >relace and is somewhat remarkably applied. t if to be noted that the preface is not by ne of the travellers or the preacher, and it oncludes thus :
.n the mean time, I leave him (with his foure ellow travellers) sojourning at the earthly Jeru- alein ; and thee (gentle Reader) travelling towards heavenly Jerusalem : where God grant at length may all arrive, Jesus Christ being our Pilot and enisarie to conduct us thereunto. Amen. Thine ver in the Lord : THEOPHILUS LAVENDER."
C. S. HARRIS.
AN ENGLISH EPITAPH IN A BASQUE CHURCH- ARD. On a granite cross laid flat upon the round in the churchyard at Arrangoitze (in rench Arcangues), near Biarritz, there is the Mowing historical record : "A la Memoire des Soldats Anglais et Franeais ui sont tombes sur le Champ d'Honneur dans les atailles de Ja Nive, les 10, 11, et 12 Decembre, 1813, isevelis dans ce Cimetiere. To mark the resting- ^ace of brave men this cross was placed here by ieut.-Col. W. Hill James, late 31st Regiment, l>ril, 1897, the 60th year of the reign of Queen Fictoria."
PALAMEDES.
"FoY BOAT." Mr. Henry Bradley seems ot to have been clear as to this word, and
- i a correction in his prefatory note to the
H.E.D.' dated Oct., 1897, he explains that this oat was known " on the north-east (especially t Shields)" but a " foy boat " must have been quail y common at Ramsgate, where there /as an inn called the " Foy Boat Inn." It is ow rechristened " Hotel." Until the last 3w years there was a full-length figure of a ailor at the corner. RALPH THOMAS.
"CORN -CRAKE." (See ante, p. 320.) Re- iewing Mr. Montgomerie-Fleming, you cite gainst him the Yorkshire use of " corn-crake" s = landrail. At home in Connemara, where English was largely Elizabethan, we knew no thor name, and my use of it has been under- fcood and passed without criticism in Essex, )xford, Wilts, Berks, and Surrey.
H. H. S. Pans.
RUSSIAN FOLK-LORE : THIEVES' TALISMAN. -The Peterburffskii Listok (Petersburg Leaflet) !/24 April quotes the following paragraph i-ora the Orlovskii Yiestnik (Orel Neivs) :
"Letter from Eletz (Superstition). A peasant Hi having joined the brotherhood of light-fingered 31, wished to put his powers to the test. He
was advised to try the following 'sure' expedient
to prevent his being taken unawares : Catch a
black cat without spot or blemish, and boil her in
a caldron until all the bones are bare, whereupon
you must rummage them until the bone of ' in-
visibility' turns up. Then sew it in an amulet-
bag and wear it always suspended from your neck ;
it will be an infallible aid to successful theft."
It is uncertain whether the youth strictly observed all the stipulated conditions, but it is an undoubted fact that he came terribly to grief at his very first trial, and was half beaten to death by his fellow-boors. Perhaps the cat was not black enough or the youth got hold of the wrong bone hence the failure of his attempt at "boning"; anyhow, the cat-o'-nine-tails might be no improper anti- dote to such tales of black cats. H. E. M.
St. Petersburg. .
ANCIENT CUSTOMS AT PETERBOROUGH. The following paragraph from the Tablet of 6 May is worthy of preservation in 'N. & Q.' Are there at the present time any other justices of the peace who have power to pass the death sentence 1
"The survival of old customs at Peterborough, the city of the Fens, was the subject of an inter- esting paper read by Mr. Dack at the meeting of the British Archaeological Association on 19 April. The curfew is still rung there, and the Cathedral is thought to be the only one where the old and correct order of processions is observed. The magis- trates are proud of possessing the privilege of sen- tencing a murderer to death without sending him to the assizes for trial, a right said to be recog- nized, although it is thought its exercise would lead to its abrogation by a special Act of Parlia- ment. It is only about thirty-five years since the sedan-chair went out of use there, and the avoca- tion of chairman was hereditary in a family who had practised it for generations. Many practices for the banishment of evil spirits are also said to prevail, the Fens naturally lending themselves to superstitious terrors."
ASTARTE.
"CAVED IN." According to the 'H.E.D.' this expression is widely used in English dialects, but the earliest instances of its ap- pearance in print are from America. It is somewhat startling to meet with it in a work so carefully archaic in style as Dr. Sebastian Evans's ' High History of the Holy Graal ' '"Temple Classics"), but there it is: '"And how is this ground all caved inaboutthecastle Sir,' saith the priest, ' I will tell you ' 75). C. C. B.
THE JEWS AND THE SPARTANS. The firs book of Maccabees, unlike the second, which has too much of the marvellous in it for modern taste, is regarded as historical. It con- bains what professes to be the copy of a letter Prom "Areus, King of the Lacedemonians 3
