188
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. II. SEPT. 3, '93.
H. Morley in 1884), Faustus, dismissing his
newly summoned familiar, says, " Get thee
hence from me, and take St. Valentine's fare-
well, and Crisman with thee." What was St.
Valentine's farewell ; and who, or what, was
Crisman ? JAMES HOOPER.
Norwich.
"A BRACE OF CAPS." 'The Geneva Ballad, to the Tune of [16]48,' printed about 1685, begins as follows :
Of all the Factions in the Town,
Mov'd by French Springs or Flemish Wheels, None treads Religion upside down,
Or tears Pretences out at heels, Like Splaymquth* with his brace of Caps, Whose Conscience might be scan'd perhaps By the Dimensions of his Chaps.
The whole piece is witty enough to reprint. The phrase "brace of caps " occurs also in a tract of 1682, which must have been written by Roger L'Estrange, viz. :
" Concavum Cappo-Clpacorum, or, a View in Little of the Great Wit and Honesty contain'd under a Brace of Caps, and wrap'd up in the Querpo- Cloak of a Phanatick."
Why " a brace of caps " ?
RICHARD H. THORNTON. Portland, Oregon.
NORFOLK FOLK - LORE. The story of the origin of the Ranworth legend of the spectral hunter and hounds was told some years ago to a party of archaeologists and others by my friend Mr. F. D. Palmer, with much circun> stantial detail and literary embellishment. It relates to a certain Col. Sedley, "the Wicked Colonel," who, after a few years'riotous living and debauchery, was carried off (to- gether with his favourite horse and hounds) in the presence of his assembled guests by the Evil One, disguised as a cloaked horseman. After a brief mad ride with the mysterious stranger, man and dogs disappeared at the margin of the Broad hard by. Since then his apparition is always seen on the anniversary of his disappearance, riding furiously, at the head of his pack of hounds, round and round the Broad, and finally vanishing therein.
In contributing a note on the above to the Folk-Lore Society, questions arose as to what further authority, apart from this version, the story rested on ; how far back it could be traced ; and whether the legend was still current in the minds of the inhabitants. Perhaps correspondents can supply the required information on these points. It is probable that the story is of considerable antiquity; possibly a Norse legend with a modern setting. Many of the Flegg district
- Splaymouth, a Presbyterian parson.
folk-lore variants can be traced to Viking
origin. A local version in the Norfolk dialect
would be valuable. W. B. GERISH.
Hoddesdon, Herts.
CHRISTOPHER WHITEHEAD'S "PARADISE." I have a copy of the reprint by Edwin Pearson, published by Bickers & Son, 1871, of the following tract :
" Paradise | Transplanted and Restored, | In a most | Artf ull and Lively | Representation | of | The several Creatures, Plants, Flowers, 1 and other Vegetables, in their full [ growth, shape, and colour: | Shown at Christopher Whiteheads at the two | wreathed Posts in Shooe-Lane. London. | Written by J. H. Gent. | London, Printed in the year 1661."
This " Paradise " seems to have been a kind of museum. I shall be very grateful for any particulars of Whitehead or his collection, or for any references to sources of information. G. L. APPERSON.
NEW TESTAMENT QUERY. Why is it that, both in the Authorized and Revised Ver- sion, the word yevrjrcu in 2 Thessalonians ii. 7 has a passive rendering given to it 1 Surely if the writer had wished his mean- ing to have been so understood he would have used the passive form of the verb. He makes frequent use of it in 1 Thessalonians e. g., in i. 5, 6 (twice) ; ii. 5, 7, 8, 10, 14. Has not the interpretation usually given to the pro- phecy led our translators astray ? It seems to me that the writer's words require to be rendered, not " Until he be taken out of the way," but "Until he get out of the way." The verb, being in the middle voice, has a middle-voice meaning. EDWIN POPE.
Latchingdon Rectory, Essex.
ST. THOMAS OF DANCASTRE. Who was he 1 An image so named existed in pre-Reforma- tion times in the church of St. Lawrence, New Romney. John Bukherst left a legacy to it in 1465. It has been suggested that Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, who was beheaded at Pontefract in 1322, was the person meant (Archceologia Cantiana, vol. xiii. p. 243). That Thomas of Lancaster was looked upon as a saint is certain, and he is even said to have been canonized ; but this is probably a mistake. Miracles were, however, attributed to him, and a breviary office was composed in his honour ; but we are not aware that he was ever regarded as of Doncaster, or had any special connexion with that town. Is it not probable that an error has arisen ; that the saint whose image stood in the church was not regarded as " of Dancastre," but that the first letter of the place-name has been misread, and that " Lancastre " was what the scribe wrote 1
N. M. & A.
