198
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii a i. MA*. 5,1910.
Other translations from Colton by
Kennedy are included in ' Amndines Cami.'
Some of these are reprinted, at times with
alterations, in ' Between Whiles.' The
1 D.N.B.' has a life of Colton ; and it is rather
surprising to find that when Meyer's ' Con-
versations-Lexicon '- first appeared the article
on Colton occupied over a column.
EDWARD BENSLY.
"NO REDEEMING VICE" (11 S. 1. 150).
This was said by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton of the prelate in ' The Pilgrims of the Rhine,' and was supposed to allude to Henry Bathurst, Bishop of Norwich.
CONSTANCE RUSSELL. Swallowfield Park, Reading.
Byron says ('Don Juan,' i. 16) of Donna Inez :
She had not one [fault] the worst of all. He was alluding not obscurely to Lady Byron. W. A. H.
" FUNCTION/'- A CEREMONY (11 S.i. 86). - The word is not actually used in French in that sense, but it is of common use in Spanish both for religious and theatrical ceremonies. L. P.
Vincennes.
THE COLUMBINE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY (11 S. i. 87). The herbalists of the sixteenth century have two columbines, for both Lyte and Gerard give this name to Vervain as well as to Aquilegia ; but it is doubtless the latter that your corre- spondent means. This flower had a some- what sinister significance. Chapman ( ' All Fooles,' ii.) makes Gazetta say of it, " That thankles Flower fitts not my Garden and in Browne's ' Britannia's Pastorals/ ii. 3, it is said to be " ascrib'd to such as are forsaken.^ Steevens (quoted by Friend), commenting on ' Hamlet,' IV. v. 189, suggests that it was the emblem of cuck- oldom, and quotes in support, from ' Caltha Poet arum, 5
The blue cornuted Columbine,
Like to the crooked horns of Acheloy.
Canon Ellacombe (' Plant -Lore of Shake speare ? ) says the flower "occurs in the crest of the old Barons Grey of Vitten, as may be seen in the garter coat of William Grey of Vitten (Camden Society, 1847)."
C. C. B.
The emblematic significance of the colum
bine will be found duly set forth in * Flowers
and Flower-Lore,' by the Rev. Hilderi
Friend. So named from the fancied re-
semblance .of its nectaries to the heads of
pigeons in a round dish, these cornuted
projections gave it a special meaning in
regard to the bull's horns which the husband
was supposed to wear on occasion of wifely
infidelity. It also served as the insignia of
a jilted or forsaken lover :
The columbine, by lonely wand'rer taken, Is there ascribed to such as are forsaken.
Argent, a chevron sable between three
columbines slipped proper, are the arms
borne by Hall of Coventry (Burke' s ' General
Armory ' ) ; and another of the name of
Hall bears Argent, a chevron sable, fretty
or, between two columbines proper (ibid.).
The flower also occurs in the crest of the old Barons Grey of Vitten. In the bill
presented by the painter in connexion with
the funeral ceremonies of Lord Grey we
read, says Mr. Friend :
" Item, his creste with the favron, or, sette on a lefte-hande glove, argent, out thereof issuy- inge caste over threade, a branch of Collobyns, blue, the stalk vert." In pink or purple hues arrayed, ofttimes indeed in
white, We see, within the woodland glade, the columbine
delight ; ome three feet high, with stem erect, the plant
unaided grows,
\.nd at the summit, now deflect, the strange- formed flower blows.
J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.
In Guillim's ' Display of Heraldrie,' 1611,
116, there occurs the following passage :
' ' He beareth Argent, a cheveron Sable betweene
Jiree Columbines slipped proper, by the name of
lall of Coventrie. The Columbine is pleasing to
- he eie, as well in respect of the seemely (and not
vulgar) shape, as in regard of the Azurie Colour
thereof ; and is holden to be very medicinable
'or the dissolving of impostumations or swellings
in the throat."
WM. NORMAN.
Columbine flowers occur in the arms of Cadman. A. R. BAYLEY.
[MR. TOM JONES- and MB. 8. L. PETTY also thanked for replies.]
FOUR WINDS, A FAIRY STORY (11 S. i. 149). ' The Four Winds l may be found in ' Tales and Fairy Stories,* by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Madame de Chate- lain, 1856, and published by G. Routledge & Co.
The belief that the four winds and their mother live in a cave is, however, a tradition found in several parts of Europe in France, for instance. Andersen adapted a popular idea to his own purposes. ' Little Klaus and
