Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/506

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498


NOTES AND QUERIES.


[9 th S. II. DEC. 17, '98.


they are cut in stone, a chevron between three foxes' heads. Can the tinctures of this last coat be given? W. C. B.

For the second part of W. C. B.'s query I might venture to suggest the following : Azure, on a chevron or, between three hawks' heads erased argent, each beak holding a rose slip of the second, two roses gules, leaved vert. It was borne by Henry Holbeach, alias Randes, who was Bishop of Rochester in 1544, and of Lincoln from 1547 to 1551.

LONSDALE.

Gop's NAME IN SHAKSPEARE (9 th S. ii. 248) It is not possible to substitute Heaven for God in all cases. Sometimes such a sub- stitution does not make sense. Here are half a dozen instances from ' Richard II.' in which one could not make the exchange :

A traitor to my God, my king, and me. I. iii. That he is a traitor, foul and dangerous, To God of heaven, Kiug Richard, and to me.

Ibid.

Stands here for God, his sovereign, and himself.

Ibid.

Now God in heaven forbid! II. ii.

God for his mercy! what a tide of woes Comes rushing on this woeful land at once!

Ibid.

God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay A glorious angel. III. ii.

Where the word heaven or its derivatives occurs in the phrase, or where a definite personality is meant, the synonym is not serviceable. Most likely the frequent recur- rence of the name of God in the historical plays suggested the alteration. A perusal of 'Richard II.,' I. iii., or ' Henry V.,' II. ii., in- dicates that. ARTHUR MAYALL.

THE WEYMOUTH PINE (9 th S. ii. 389). In Gordon's ' Pinetum ' it is stated that this tree owes its name to " Lord Weymouth, shortly after its introduction into England in 1705, having had a large quantity planted at Long- leat." HERBERT MAXWELL.

Mr. Grigor, the author of ' Arboriculture, says (p. 184) that P. strobus "began to be cultivated in England in the beginning of the eighteenth century, having been planted in large numbers by Lord Weymouth on hi estates in Wiltshire, and having grown vigor- ously it was called the Weymouth pine." This "beginning of the eighteenth century " accords well with the time when, as MRS. TOYNBEE tells us, the first Viscount was in office as Lord of Trade, &c. ST. SWITHIN.

DAILY AND WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS PUB- LISHED IN LIVERPOOL (9 th S. ii. 408). Timper- ley, in his 'Dictionary of Printers and


Printing,' says that No. 1 of the Liverpool Courier was issued on 6 June, 1808. A news- paper bearing the same name is now published. EVERARD HOME COLEMAN.

The Liverpool Courier, established 1808, and the Liverpool Mercury, established 1811, are leading newspapers in Liverpool. Both are published daily and weekly (Street's ' List of Newspapers'). H. T. POLLARD.

Molewood.


NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. In Quest of the Holy Groat. By Sebastian Evans,

LL.D. (Dent & Co.)

DR. EVANS has followed up his ' High History of the Holy Graal,' translated- from the old French, by a deeply interesting introduction to the study 01 the legend. Since the outset of his literary career the Arthurian legends have exercised a strong fascination over him, as over all endowed with imagination, and his 'Arthur's Knighting' and 'Eve of Morte Arthur' are dear to lovers of poetry. The task he now undertakes is bold and strange. It is nothing less than that of explaining the symbolical significance of the legend of the Holy Graal, and fitting to historical characters the chief personages concerned. With this startling view we are not able critically to deal, and we aim at nothing more than stating Dr. Evans's case. That the legend of the Graal has from the first been enshrouded in mystery all will concede; that its purport is in some way to typify the Sacrament of the Holy Communion few will deny. At this point we, generally speaking, stop. What follows concerns Dr. Evans, whose task it is to crack the bone of its mystery, and to give to the world the marrow of its signification. Not easy is it to indicate to one who has not before him the ' High History ' the symbolism of the legend. Briefly it must be said that the whole has to do with the crusade against the Albigenses and the interdict under which England was placed in the reign of King John. The ' High History ' is that of Yglais, the widowed lady of the Valleys of Camelot, and her three brethren, King Fisherman, King Pelles of the Lower Folk, and the King of Castle Mortal, all of whom trace their ancestry up to Joseph of Abarimacie, the soldier of Pilate who took down from the Cross the body of Christ. Yglais is a form of Eglise. Perceval is her son by Alain H Gros, otherwise Alain de Lille or de L'Isle, the famous Doctor Universalis, "qui totum scibile scivit," commissioned by Alexander III. to write against heretics, and especially the Albigenses. He died at the Cistercian Abbey of Citeaux, it is assumed in 1201. King Fisherman is, naturally, the Pope, the occupant of the throne founded by the fisherman of Galilee. The King of Castle Mortal can, it is shown, be none other than the Emperor, while the King of the Lower Folk is assumed, with some courage, to be the Abbot of Citeaux, the head of the Cistercian order, or what may be considered the Church militant; at any rate, the leader of an organization " more actively influential than either Papacy or Empire," one whom Pope Innocent III., as Aaron, the High

Priest of the Temple, had hailed as Moses, Captain