322 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"-! S. VII. April 1G. '69. 



and for much other valuable matter, to Chancellor 

 Harington, who, as I before stated, holds the same 

 opinion as that given in the text. 



I would refer those who wish fully to study this 

 subject to Stillingfleet's Origines Britannicee, c. 

 i. ; Ussher's Britan. Ecdes.'Antiq. vol. v. c. i. p. 19. 

 ed. 1846 ; Camden's Britan. vol. i. p. 46. ed. 1772 ; 

 Collier, vol. i. pp. 12—15. ed. 1852; Cave's Life 

 of St. Paul; and especially Bishop Burgess' (of 

 Salisbury) Tracts on the Origin and Independence 

 of the Ancient British Church, 1815. 



• Alfred T. Lee. 



Ahogbill Rector}', Ballymena. 



An examination of the various supposed au- 

 thorities alleged in support of S. Paul's visit is 

 given in a lecture on the subject by Dr. Cardwell, 

 published separately as a pamphlet in 1837. In 

 this is clearly shown, as it seems to me, the insuffi- 

 ciency of the citations adduced from Greek and 

 Latin writers to bear out any positive conclusion 

 in favour of the hypothesis of S. Paul's having 

 preached iu Britain. W. D. Macrat. 



CEREMONY FOR THE SOULS OF THE SLAIN IN 



BATTLE. \ 



(2"'' S. vii. 210.) 



I have no wish to enter the lists with such an 

 acknowledijed scholar and learned antiquary as 

 the Rev. Dr. Todd of Trin. Coll., Dublin, but 

 having tried a tilt with him some two years since 

 on Irish gold, and having had the " best of it," I 

 venture now to correct two manifest errors into 

 which he has fallen on the subject which heads 

 this notice. Ho says it is probable that the cele- 

 brated race-course of Newcastle was, in the tenth 

 century, used as a race-course. I know a good 

 deal about Ireland and Irish ceremonies, and I 

 know the race-course in question ; and the " pro ■ 

 babilities " that it was used as a horse-race course 

 at so early a date are all against the assertion. I 

 believe horse-racing, as a national sport, cannot 

 be traced to an earlier date in England than the 

 reign of James I., and it is pretty certain that the 

 sport was introduced into Ireland from this coun- 

 try. So much for the first mistake.* 



With regard to the ceremony mentioned about 

 the gillies driving the women, I have never heard 

 nor read of such a thing before. I am under the 

 impression that the translation should be again 

 revised, when perhaps a different construction 

 may be arrived at, capable of a better interpreta- 

 tion or explanation. But, says the learned and 

 reverend Doctor, — 



" But it is also not improbable tbat the ceremony was 



[* Our correspondent has clearly misunderstood Dr. 

 Todd, who does not say one word about a horse race. — 

 Ed. " N. & Q."] 



connected with one which is common amongst the Irish 

 peasantry at the present day, viz. that of making rounds 

 at wells or ' stations ' (such as Crough Patrick, Lough 

 Deary [qy. Derg.'], &c. I have seen women, and men 

 too, make these rounds on bare knees, upon sharp gravel 

 until they went away bleeding and lacerated." 



I am by no means as old a man as the Rev. Db. 

 Todd, and yet I have seen men and women go 

 round " holy wells " on their knees, but for quite 

 a different purpose. I may premise, however, 

 that within the last twenty-five years the Catholic 

 clergy of Ireland have succeeded in totally abo- 

 lishing the "stations." There are few ancient 

 churchyards in Ireland that has not a spring well 

 within their precincts. These wells were dedi- 

 cated to the patron saint of the diocese or locality, 

 and were held in much veneration by the people. 

 The gatherings about these wells were on the an- 

 niversary of the patron saint, and hence the well- 

 known Irish "pattern." The people who collected 

 about these wells,'and went round them on their 

 knees, did not do so for the benefit of the souls of 

 their departed friends, but for the purpose of per- 

 forming penance for their own offences, or paying 

 some secret vow made to the Creator, either by 

 way of thanksgiving for some benefit, or in atone- 

 ment for some sin. These penances or thanks- 

 givings were always self-imposed, and had no- 

 thing whatever to do with any dogma of religion 

 or rule of the Church. In process of time crowds 

 of idle people used to collect at these patterns, and 

 as a matter of course tents were set up for the 

 sale of drink. This led to great abuse, and fight- 

 ing followed. The clergy, as before remarked, 

 have succeeded in completely abolishing these 

 scenes. From this it will be seen that there was 

 no connexion with these and the strange cere- 

 mony mentioned by Dr. Todd, — a ceremony that 

 I have never heard even allusion to in the tradi- 

 tions of the country, and I am acquainted with 

 most that prevail in all parts of Ireland. My ob- 

 ject, therefore, is to set the learned and reverend 

 Doctor right in two respects ; first, to show that 

 horse-racing was not known in Ireland in the 

 tenth century, and, second, that the "going round 

 the stations" had no reference to the strange cere- 

 mony he mentions, if the latter ever existed. 



S. Redmond. 



Liverpool. 



3RcpIir^ t0 Minor <lSi\ttvitS, 



Sir Harris Nicolas. — I am able to comply 

 with the first of your correspondent F. G.'s re- 

 quests (2°^ S. vii. 238.), by informing him that on 

 a tablet in St. Martin's church, near Looe, Corn- 

 wall, where the late Sir H. Nicolas inherited a 

 small property, there is an inscription to his me- 

 mory. It records Sir H.'s rank and professions, 

 and the dates of his birth and burial, then saying 

 where his remains lie, concludes with these words : 



