48
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. ix. JAN. IT,
Beal's : Buddhist Records of the Western World,'
1906, vol. i. pp. 149-50, gives another version of
the story that was current in the seventh-century
India.
" It was in A.D. 677 that Hwni-nang, the sixth patriarch of the Shen sect of Chinese Buddhism, fixed his residence in the woody district of Tsau-ki. Perceiving the church there standing then to be too narrow for the assembly of his followers, he earnestly wished for its extension. He called on Chin A-'sien, the landowner of its environs, and requested his gift of a ground only big enough for his seat. Chin asked him how big it was. The patriarch produced a small mat on which he used to sit, and was at once granted what he needed. Thereupon he displayed a miracle by expanding the mat so enormously that instantly all the district of Tsau-ki was covered with it, its four sides being guarded by the Four Guardian Gods of the World [viz., Dhritar/ichtra, Virudhaka, Viriipakcha, and Dhanada]. Forcibly persuaded by this miracle, Chin made no hesitation in donating all his land to H:\yui-nang." Fah-hai, kc., ' Luh-tsu-ta-sze-yuen-ki-wai-ki,' written in the seventh century.
" The climate of Mount Wu-tai is cold for the most part of a year, but in the fifth, sixth, and seventh moons all the hills and vales that com- pose this mountainous tract of 500 square Ji are pervaded with rare, sweet-scented flowers, it looking as if covered with an unbroken sheet of gorgeous damask, whereas the tsze-kiu [Allium ledebourianum ?] grows abundantly on its five peaks. According to a legend, the Emperor Hau-wan of the Yuen- Wei dynasty [who reigned for about two decenniums closing the fifth century A.D.] was once staying here for diversion, when the Bodhisattva Mandjusri, presenting a priestly appearance, requested his grant of a spot just big enough for his sitting-mat. No sooner was this answered favourably than he spread his mat, which covered all this tract of 500 square li. Exceedingly wonderstruck thereby, the Emperor determined not to stay here any longer. So he forsook the mountain after scattering over it the seeds of isze- kiu [which is much abhorred by all Buddhist disciplinarians]. Instantly how- ever, Mandjusri brought the seeds of ling-ling* hiang [the sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum, accord- ing to Bret Schneider's ' Botanicon Sinicum,' Shanghai, 1893, pt. ii. p. 230]. Scattering them over the Isze-kiu, he successfully counteracted its bad smell. And hitherto so abxindantly grown with the ts~e-kiu as Mount Wxi-tai is, yet we never detect there the least scent of it, whereas the ling-ling-hiang luxuriates in every part thereof, permeating the air with its pleasant aroma." The third tome of Jigaku Daishi's ' Journal of Studies and Pilgrimages in China during 838-
847 A.D.'
KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA.
Tanabe, Kii, Japan.
FATIMA'S HAND. What is the origin or
meaning of Fatima's hand, sometimes called
the Sacred hand ? It is the model of a hand,
and used as a charm and hung round the
neck. When I was at Marseilles, I found it
generally worn, and bought one.
MARCHANT.
SUNDIAL INSCRIPTION. I am anxious
to discover the true reading and where-
abouts of a sundial inscription which runs,.
I am told, as follows : " Utque redit viam
constans quam suspicis umbra fugax homines-
non reditura sunius." As a friend has-
pointed out, it is fairly obvious that to
complete a pentameter after " umbra " that
word must be repeated, and that " sunius "
is meant for " sumus " ; but the restoration
of the beginning of the hexameter is not so
easy. The first syllable of " yiam " should
be short, and " utque " seems to suggest
that an earlier line or couplet preceded.
A. C. M. Littlebredy, Dorchester.
[Is " utque " a misreading for " usque " ?]
LOCK, FANNY BURNEY'S FRIEND. an any reader give me information about the descent of William Lock (or Locke) of Norbury, the virtuoso and friend of Fanny Burney"? His mother Mary, without a surname, is recorded on the tablet in Mickle- ham Church, but I can find no trace of his father. Indeed, local tradition has it^lie was a son of George II. But the * Diet. Nat. Biog.' says he belonged to a family which claimed connexion with that of Locke the philosopher. I also want information as to William Locke's son George, and his daughter Mrs. Angerstein. C. W. JAMES.
St. James's Club, Piccadilly, W.
LOCKE FAMILY. Can any one give me information with regard to the descendants- of the uncles of John Locke the philosopher, one of whom left a large family ? In some old papers I find that the Lockes (sometimes spelt Lock) of Oxfordshire claim relationship with the philosopher. A John Locke of Ledwell in the parish of Sandford, Oxford- shirewill dated December; 1612 (Arch. Court, Oxford) mentions sons John, Rich- ard, and Humfrey ; daughters Barbara Locke and Margaret Harris. A John Locke of Sandford St. Martin, Oxfordshire, married Ann, daughter of Edward Taylor of Sandford St. Martin, whose granddaughters Cle- mentina, married Thomas Ward (1790) at Chipping Norton, and Mary, married W r illiam Mister of Llandovery, Carmarthenshire were the last of these Lockes that can be traced, though they left descendants. .
S. T.
DR. DUNDEY. I should be glad of any
Particulars about this person, who robbed a ank in Ireland of -7,OOOZ., and is mentioned by Dickens in ' The Detective Police,' one of the " Reprinted Pieces." J. ARDAGS.
