484
NOTES * AND QUERIES, pi* s. vm. DEC. K, 1901.
searching last week for baits, found a woman's hand
cut off at the wrist and buried ; they brought it to
the town, and a man viewing it, thought it very
like his wife's, who had been interred a few days
before. He immediately had the body taken up,
and found it not only dismembered, but all the
human fat taken out. The alarm became general,
and the people were at a loss to account for such
savage conduct; however, it was found out, that
four suspicious fellows had lately taken an empty
house in the town, and on the discovery being made
instantly decamped. It is generally believed, on
what authority we will not vouch, the shocking
conduct of taking out the fat was for making a
candle, which being put into the dead hand, and
carried at night to commit a burglary, that while
it remains lighting in this manner, no person in
the house will awake, therefore a robbery may be
committed with safety."
Had the Rev. Richard H. Barbara this superstition in his mind when he wrote ' The Nurse's Story : The Hand of Glory/ in ' The
GARY.
Ingoldsby Legends ' ?
GEO.
THE YOUTHFUL YEAR. Considering that
from the tenth century to 1749 or 1751 the
years of Florence were computed from
25 March, I am surprised that Dante should
have written
In quella parte del giovinetto anno, Che il sole i crin sotto 1' Aquario tempra, Et gi;i le notte al mezzo di sen vanno. I should have thought that a year which began in Marcb would be stricken in months by the end of January or the beginning of February. Will somebody kindly make plain to me the justice of the epithet 1
ST. SWITHIN.
STOWE MISSAL. This early text was among the Ashburnham MSS. Will one of your correspondents kindly inform me by whom it was bought and the price paid ? I have no access to ' Book-Prices Current '
H. A. W.
Ci???oo Price ? ^ urr ent' does not, as a rule, deal with MbS., and we fail to trace in the last volume any reference to the Stowe Missal.]
^ SOURCE OF QUOTATION WANTED. CJoe notte halfe waye to mete a curainge sorrowe, " Venienti occurrite morbo," Persius, iii. 64.] Butte thankfulle bee for blessinges of to-dave And maye .that thou mayst blessede bee to-morrowe, s shalt thou goe with joic upon thy waye.
M. E.
LADY MARY TUDOR.-WIH some reader of N & 0. tell me the date of the birth of Lady Mary Tudor, daughter of Charles II. and Mrs. Mary Da vies 1 G. E. P A
CROLLY FAMILY -The mother of Stanislas Leszczynski of Poland was a daughter of the Count de Crolly, What was her Christian
name and her maternal grandmother's 1 Was
the latter Lady Anne Gordon, daughter of
Lewis, third Marquis of Huntly 1 Where is
an account of the Crolly family to be found ?
J. M. BULLOCH. 118, Pall Mall.
IRISH BADGES. When were the following badges introduced in connexion with Ireland the greyhound of Cicely Neville, wife of Richard, Duke of York, Viceroy of Ireland, 1449 A.D.; the three crowns of Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland ; the triple castle of Queen Eleanor of Castille, wife of Edward I., with hart issuing 1
Also who were the Irish chieftains that used for war cry " Aboo Farrah ! " " Victory for ever"? Which early heraldic writer gives illustrations of above arms 1 D. B.
"NpSE AND NOSATAME." Can any reader explain this phrase ? It occurs in a letter of August, 1617, and is evidently a terra of derision. WILLIAM FOSTER.
"LUCKYAS A CALLING DUCK." Isthis phrase known ; and what is its precise meaning ? It comes from a letter of 1617.
WILLIAM FOSTER.
BARBARA JOHNSTON. In the London Maga- zine of June, 1769 (p. 397), there is a notice of the death, at the age of eighteen, of Miss Barbara Johnston, daughter of Col. Johnston. I hope one of your readers will be able to inform me who this Col. Johnston was and the name of his wife. F. A. JOHNSTON.
16, Draycott Place, S.W.
CLAYMORE. Can any one tell me the approximate date or maker's name of a clay- more having a fox with " S. H." stamped on its body on the blade 1 H. EVERARD.
SOMERSET GORE IRVINE was admitted to Westminster School on 13 October, 1825, aged twelve. I should be glad of any information concerning him. G. F. R. B.
DENHAM, LAIRD OF WISHIELS. Can any one give me a pedigree of this family, as well as their arms 1 Margaret Denham married temp. Elizabeth the Rev. Hans Hamilton, vicar of Dunlop, son of Archibald Hamilton of Raplock, Lanarkshire.
KATHLEEN WARD.
Castle Ward, Downpatrick.
ARMS WANTED. Can any one give me the arms of Sir Jenico d'Artois, a Gascon, who, by his wife, Hon. Maud Plunkett, was the father of Sir John Dowdall's wife, temp. Elizabeth? I wish also those of Philip
