2nd S. VII. Jan. 22. 69.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



11 



very generally in Herefordshire and Gloucester- 

 shire. J. C. J. 



In the parish church of Witton, near North 

 Walsham, Norfolk, the separation of the sexes is 

 strictly oljserved by the common consent of the 

 people. The church consists of chancel, and nave 

 with an aisle on the south side ; the benches on the 

 north side of the nave, and in the aisle, are occu- 

 pied by the men, those in the middle of the nave 

 are occupied by the women. This distinction is 

 also observed by the children, of course excepting 

 infants. 



The " squire " and a few farmers occupy some 

 high pens introduced in a more enlightened age. 



G. W. W. M. 



At Hayes in Kent when I was a boy the men 

 sat on one seat, the women on the other. Perhaps 

 some of your readers will say whether the women 

 sat on the south or the reverse. A. J. Dunkin. 



Dartford. 



Oysters (2""* S. vii. 29.) — Your correspondent, 

 I. P. O. (Argyllshire), will, I think, find all he 

 requires in the elaborate Keport of Mr. T. C. 

 Eyton, F.L.S., on " Oysters and Oyster-beds of 

 the British Fisheries," presented to the British 

 Association in 1856, and printed at length in the 

 Society's Proceedings of that year ; and condensed 

 in the Year-book of Facts, 1857, pp. 227-8. Mr. 

 Eyton calculates that in the spawn of one oyster 

 were about three millions of animals : they are 

 semi-transparent, with two reddish dots on each 

 side behind the ciliae, which are in constant mo- 

 tion. Oysters are exceedingly tenacious of life : 

 millions and billions of them are often killed by a 

 single frost. Among my notes I find the follow- 

 ing authorities on oysters : Paley's Natural Theo- 

 logy ; Bishop Sprat on Oysters (much overrated). 

 Hist. Royal Sac. ; an excellent paper in the Ma- 

 gazine of Popular Science, vol. iv. ; some excel- 

 lent illustrations in Dr. Roget's Bridgewater 

 Treatise. A good account of the oyster appears in 

 Forty Years in the World, published in 1825. In 

 1841, M. Kroyer published at Copenhagen a full 

 account of the Danish oyster banks, containing 

 several newly observed facts in the natural history 

 of the oyster, by which previous statements are 

 enlarged (see an extract from this work in The 

 Mirror, vol. xxxvii.). In the London Saturday 

 Journal, August, 1842, is a collection of curious 

 facts on oysters ; and in several of the Arcana of 

 Science and Year-hook of Facts from 1827 to 

 1858, will be found notices of oysters. French 

 naturalists have of late paid much attention to the 

 economy of the oyster. 



At the recent meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion at Leeds, Mr. Eyton read a farther " Report 

 on the Oyster," tracing the young oyster from the 

 embryo state in the ovary to its perfection at 

 five years old. Mr. Eyton will shortly publish 



a work on the history of the oyster, the mode of 

 preserving the beds, and increasing their produc- 

 tiveness. JoHM Times. 

 Sloane Street. 



The English Flag (2"'^ S. vii. 19.)— In Mr. 

 Samuel Laing's Travels and Residence in Norway 

 (1834-36), it is stated that at. least 900 years ago 

 they had in that country large ships : that the 

 sails were made of strong white cloth, with red and 

 blue stripes ; hence it occurred to me that the 

 English had adopted the above three colours for 

 their naval flag. It is also stated by Mr. Laing 

 that both in Norway and in Denmark the infantry 

 soldiers had red cloth, and the English infantry 

 have red to this day, copied, no doubt, from the 

 people of Norway. Many of our people of dis- 

 tinction came from Norway and settled in Scot- 

 land. The Duke of Hamilton's ancestor was one 

 of them. The Danes still use red cloth for the 

 uniforms of the infantry. I have stated this else- 

 where, and it was not contradicted. 



A Field Officer. 



" XXXI. He beareth azure a Salter argent, over all a 

 cross of the second, surmounted of another gules. This is 

 the Union of the Crosses of England and Scotland, which, 

 upon King James the First and Sixth's reign, were joined 

 together, and made Great Britain's ensign." — Handle 

 Holme's Academy of Armory and Blazon, B. 1. c. 8. p. 82. 

 published in 1688. 



David Gam. 



" A Friend to the House of Hanover " (2"'' S. vii. 

 43.) — I have a strong suspicion these lines are 

 not so friendly to the House of Hanover as they 

 appear at first sight, but are rather a Jacobite 

 production that can be read in a double sense, as 

 was very usual with poetical squibs of the last 

 century. Thus by dividing them into two parts 

 or stanzas of eight lines, and taking a line of 

 each stanza alternately, the meaning is very dif- 

 ferent : — 



" I love with all my heart 

 The tory party here ; 

 The Hanoverian part 



Most hateful doth appear. 

 And for their settlement 



I ever have denied. 

 My conscience gives consent 



To be on James's side ; 

 Blost glorious is the cause 



To be with such a King ; 

 To fight for George's Laws 



Will Britain's ruin bring : 

 This is my mind and heart ; 



In this opinion I, 

 Though none should take my part, 

 Resolve to live and die." 



R. M^C. 

 Liverpool. 



Beuhelzoon (2°" S. vi. 340. 511.) — The sug- 

 gestion of your correspondent I. P. O., that the 

 word pickle (in German pohel, and in old Germau 

 hokel) is derived from this worthy, who invented 



