248
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vm. SEPT. 21, 1901.
some thirty-five years ago in a side street of
a provincial town in France or Belgium
among a batch of old nursery tales and
ballads similarly set forth, and sold at ten
to fifteen centimes apiece.
A. A. E. CHESSON.
I do not know who wrote this song, and am not sure that anybody else does. It has been asserted that neither the words nor the air to which they are sung are very old. St. Eligius or Eloi, whom Chaucer wrote of as "seynt Loy," was contemporary with Dagobert and the two were intimate a fortunate coincidence for the rimester. This Bishop of Noyon was a clever artificer in precious metals, and he is to this day re- garded as the patron saint of goldsmiths, of Blacksmiths, and of horses.
"At S. Eloi, near Landerneau, is a chapel that
contains an image of the saint At the pardon,
which is also celebrated with bonfires, the farmers arrive in procession on horseback, and as they pass before the image oblige their horses to execute a sort of stumble or bow, as offering salutation to S. Eloi. After that each offers at the altar a knot of horsehair." Baring-Gould's ' A Book of Brittany ' p. 80.
From the same author's 'Lives of the Saints,' sub 1 December, it is plain that St. Eloi himself would have deprecated such an observance. A sermon of his, preserved by St. Ouen, contains special warnings against certain superstitions and errors, which are, nevertheless, scarcely less prevalent now than they were between twelve and thirteen centuries ago. At St. Hilda's Abbey, Whitby, the horses used to have extra forage on St. Loy's Day. ST. SWITHIN.
' TENNYSONIAN ODE ' (9 th S. vm. 205). Your correspondent will find the lines to "Trick- some, lightsome Caroline," in the 'Bon Gaul- tier Ballads.' WILFRED DALE.
The poem for which MR. VIVIAN asks is at p. 236 of the * Bon Gaultier Ballads.' It was written, I think, by Prof. Aytoun, and imi- tates Tennyson's "Airy, fairy Lilian."
ALDENHAM.
This is in ' Bon Gaultier.' I would sent a copy if MB. VIVIAN cannot get it.
H. W. PRESCOTT. [Many similar replies are acknowledged.]
"TALL LEICESTERSHIRE WOMEN" (9 th S vm. 64).-The reference is probably to some giantesses hailing from Leicestershire, and exhibited m a show. May one point out to your old contributor that the expression
almost a native" is productive of wonder- ment? If the case be looked at geographi-
, one finds that the county is bounded by
six others ; arid then there are other ways
of looking at the statement ; but its use in
connexion with the circumstance of nativity
is peculiar. Shakespeare had the singulari-
ties of " almost " in his mind when he wrote,
" You are almost come to part almost a fray "
(' Much Ado about Nothing,' V. i.).
ARTHUR MAYALL
FOLK-LORE OF SAILORS AND FISHERMEN (9 th S. viii. 105). Your correspondent will find a good deal of information on this sub- ject in the following works :
Taylor's 'Storyology ' (1900), pp. 91-120.
Hardwick's ' Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk- lore '(1872), pp. 115-6,250.
Jones's 'Credulities, Past and Present' (1880), pp. 1-119.
'Popular Superstitions,' " Gentleman's Magazine Library."
The following articles may also be useful :
' Our Fishermen's Folk-lore,' Illustrated London News, 3 November, 1883.
' Superstitions of Sailors,' All the Year Round, 1889.
' Sea Myths,' Household Words, 27 May, 1893.
' Strange Superstitions of Fishermen,' Household Word*, 3 August, 1895.
' Sailors' Superstitions,' Success, 28 March, 1896.
'Superstition in Cornwall,' JBelgravia, January, 1897.
H. ANDREWS.
ARMS OF EUROPEAN COUNTRIES (9 th S. viii. 64). At the end of the first volume of 'The Imperial Dictionary' there are twenty-four coloured examples of national coats of arms, together with descriptions. In the sixteenth volume of 'Brockhaus's Konversations-Lexi- kon,' preceding p. 501, there are eleven coloured specimens of the arms of important civilized states. The better example of the arms of Great Britain is given in Brock- haus. Both the works should be found in any free library. The second, published in 1898, is a particularly good alternative to the ' Encyc. Brit.' ARTHUR MAYALL.
The best English work giving the blazon of the arms of European countries is Wood- ward's * Heraldry, British and Foreign,' 2 vols., 1896. c The Great Theater of Honour and Nobility,' by A. Boyer, 1729, in French and English, can sometimes be got cheap by a book-hunter. If R. B. B. wishes to know whence the arms are derived, I think he will have to invest in some works by foreign writers. JOHN RADCLIFFE.
TRANSFER OF LAND BY "CHURCH GIFT" (9 th S. viii. 81, 134). Conveyance by "Church gift" is practised, not in Dorset at large, but only in the Isle of Portland, where, too,
