196
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s.vn. MARCH 9, 1901.
THE BLESSING OF THE THROATS (9 th S. v.
169, 273 ;'vi. 197). The following from a tetter
in the Tablet of 2 February, entitled l The
Blessing of St. Blaise,' would seem to show
that some form for blessing the throat on
that particular saint's day (3 February) is of
more or less ancient origin :
" The old custom of blessing water on the Feast of St. Blaise is still annually performed on Feb- ruary 3rd at St. Mary's Abbey, East Bergholt (Colchester). This custom is now over two hundred years old, and the rite now used is that given in the Bollandists, the relic of the saint being dipped into the water. The water thus blessed is distributed and taken for the cure of sore throats, or as a pre- servation from all diseases connected with the throat," c.
The writer goes on to say that this is a more convenient form than that of giving the blessing with cross candles, as is the cus- tom at one or more London churches. Another custom, prevalent still in some parts of Eng- land, is that of administering a little of the wine left in the cruet after mass to children suffering from whooping cough, a disused chalice being employed for the purpose. It would be interesting to know whether this was a pre-Reformation custom.
FREDERICK T. HIBGAME.
FRIAR'S CRAG, DERWENTWATER (9 th S. vii. 129). "Coppy-stool " has little or nothing to do with the derivation of the name. " Cop," of course, means a hill, peak, or crest ; and " coppy " has the meaning of coppice in Cum- berland. Most likely this is the derivation wanted ; but when did the name Square Coppy End first arise, and was there a square coppice near the crag at the time 1 The use of "end" may be found in Kerridge End in Cheshire, and perhaps too in Endon, in more than one county. With the former the follow- ing interesting epitaph, dated 1750, from Prestbury Churchyard is associated : Beneath this stone lies Edward Green, Who for cutting stone famous was seen, But he was sent to apprehend One Joseph Clark, of Kerridge End, For stealing deer of Esquire JDownes, Where he was shot and died o' th' wounds.
ARTHUR MAYALL. "Coppy " is simply coppice.
ALFRED T. CURWEN. Harrington Rectory, Cumberland.
Country labourers, at least in Worcester- shire, commonly speak of a coppice as a " coppy " ; they have an idea that coppice (coppies) means two or more such.
W. C. B.
BROKEN ON THE WHEEL (9 th S. vi. 251, 314, 373, 455, 513; vii. 135). As the instances
of breaking on the wheel recently quoted
are taken from the last century, I give,
from memory merely, one that took place in
one of the Austrian Slav provinces about
thirty years back. The punishment had not
been inflicted for a good many years in the
province, owing to popular prejudice, but in
this case seems to have been generally
approved. Two discharged soldiers, one of
whom was named Alexiry, had outraged and
murdered a family of young girls living in
a secluded farmhouse. Alexiry was the first
to be executed, his right shoulder being first
broken with a small mace, and the other
joints crushed in succession, the culprit being
finally dispatched by blows upon the abdo-
men. He showed courage, and seems to
have rapidly become insensible. His com-
panion, a Jew, had to witness this scene
before his own turn came, and, probably
because of his unpopularity, his tortures were
prolonged. I remember being impressed at
the time by the peculiarly ghastly account
of his punishment, but have forgotten his
name. The report was in more than one
English newspaper somewhere about 1870,
but I made no note. J. A GOODCHILD.
Bordighera.
The Universal Spectator of 19 February, 1810, is responsible for the following :
" A man and his wife, convicted of having falsely accused a Jew family of assassination, were on the 25th of last month broken on the wheel at Aix-la- Chapelle."
J. N. BRUSHFIELD, M.D.
ETON COLLEGE AND RAM HUNTING (9 th S. vi. 230, 374 ; vii. 95). The Sportsman's Maga- zine ; or, Chronicle of Games and Pastimes, No. 15, August, 1824 (which commences vol. iii. of the periodical), has as a frontis- piece an engraving, ' The Ancient Game of Ram Hunting, as practised by the Eton Scholars.' It represents a number of the boys armed with heavy clubs, pursuing the unhappy animal. In the background is a view of the college and river. A brief description occupies p. 1 of the text, which is principally from the Rev. Mr. Cole's MSS. in the British Museum. The substance of it is that the custom was observed at election time, about the beginning of August ; that the ram was hunted " from the college play- grounds, as far as he would run." The boys aimed at knocking the ram down, with bludgeons bought for the purpose, and it was afterwards "made into a pasty, and served up in the hall." The period Mr. Cole refers to was about the middle of the eighteenth century.
MR. BALDOCK'S supposition that the Duke
