2nd s. No 53., Jan. 3. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



11 



Northaw. — What is the derivation of this 

 name ? It is a parish in the Hundred of Cashio- 

 bury in Hertfordshire, and is sometimes called 

 Northall. What is the name by which it is first 

 mentioned in any known record ? M. N. 



A Man Eating Himself. — Can you, or any of 

 your readers, inform me in what book it is related 

 that a man was taken prisoner by savages who, 

 before killing him, cut a steak from him and put 

 it before the fire ; while thus engaged they were 

 attacked by hostile tribes and reduced to flight. 

 The prisoner being released, and famished with 

 hunger, was unable to find anything else to eat 

 except his own steak. On this he made a hearty 

 meal, and recovering from his wound, lived to tell 

 the strange tale that he had eaten his own beef- 

 steak. 1 am told that this story is to be found in 

 some book of travels, &c., and am anxious to know 

 the name, in order to see this curious anecdote 

 with my own eyes. F. J. W. 



A Query about a Snail. — Some years ago I 

 made a " Note " of a curious woodcut representing 

 a snail defying the attacks of armed men. It was 

 a very curious engraving, and it ,w^ accompanied 

 with the following lines : ' 



" I am a beest of right great mervayle, 

 Upon my backe my house reysed I bere ; 

 I am neyther flesshe ne bone to avayle : 

 As well as a great oxe two homes I were : 

 If that these armed men approche nie nere, 

 I shall them soone vaynquysshe every chone : 

 But they dare nat, for fere of me alone." 



I noted this at the time, it being in Pynson's 

 edition of the Kalender of Shepherdes, but on re- 

 ference to the Grenville copy of that work in the 

 British Museum, I cannot discover any trace of 

 either the lines or woodcut. The Grenville copy 

 is imperfect, and I have a faint impression I may 

 have copied from one of the Bagford scraps, not 

 thinking it necessary to refer to the latter, but 

 rather to the work itself. Either this is the case, 

 or the reference is altogether a wrong one, oc- 

 casioned by some oversight or other. If any of 

 your readers could assist me in unravelling this 

 little mystery, they would confer a very great 

 favour. J, O. Halliwell. 



Impossible Problems. — Would Professor Db 

 Morgan inform me whether it is possible to prove 

 the impossibility of solving the following pro- 

 blems? (1.) The three bodies. (2.) The per- 

 petual motion. (3.) The quadrature of the circle. 

 (4.) The trisection of a plane angle. 



I am in want of demonstrations of the impos- 

 sibility of solving the last two. 



It is not enough to say that -k is not a square 

 number. Can Professor De Morgan give me, 

 or refer me to such demonstrations ? It seems to 

 me that a history of the failures to solve (3.) 



would be of great use to those whom the Athenaeum 

 designates as the unlearned ingenious. Such a 

 work, too, would be full of curious personal his- 

 tory, and would exhibit examples of the most 

 heroic struggles against nature and reason. 



C. Mansfield Inglebt. 

 Birmingham. 



Major Andre. — Was he descendant of, or a 

 member of the same family as, St. Andre, the sur- 

 geon of Queen Anne*s time ; who, like " Wicked 

 Will Whiston," was so egregiously imposed upon 

 by Miss Tofts of Godalming, of rabbit-breeding 

 notoriety ? Henry T. Riley. 



Michaelmas Day Saying. — A lady wishes to 

 know the origin of the saying, that " On Michael- 

 mas Day the devil puts his foot on the black- 

 berries ; " whence it is inferred that they should 

 not be eaten subsequently. Is this saying current 

 elsewhere than in the north of Ireland ? 



E. H. D. D. 



Songs. — In Doran's Table Traits there is given 

 a well-known song in India, which used often to 

 be sung, and was, I believe, written by somebody 

 during the. first Burmese War. The chorus, with 

 a slight variation, is : 



" Ay ! Stand to j'our glasses — steady ! 

 The reckless here are the wise ; 

 One cup to the Dead already — 

 Hurrah for the next that dies ! " 



Can anybody tell me who the author was ? 

 Where can I procure a copy of the well-known 

 song written by a Dublin College student : 



«' Who fears to speak of '98 ? " 



T. H. D. 



Union Jack. — 



" The new system began with a change of flag. From 

 the accession of the Stuarts, the Union Jack had streamed 

 from the topmasts of every vessel engaged in the service 

 of the State : but the King's removal having dissolved 

 the necessary legal connection of the two countries, all 

 ships at sea in actual service were henceforth ordered to 

 carry only a red cross on a white ground." 



Is this (from Hepworth Dixon's Robert Blake, 

 p. 98., edit. 1856,) correct ? 



At p. 101. infra, Mr. Dixon says : 



" Before going on board the flag-ship, he (Blake) took 

 care to supply himself with Jacks, standards, and stud- 

 ding sails for giving chace." 



How, or why did he, if Jacks in the navy were 

 done away with ? Unless, perhaps, for the sake of 

 a ruse. J. O. L. 



" Perimvs Ileitis.'' — This was the motto of the 

 first Lord Teignmouth, who said that he did not 

 know the authority for it. Can any one tell ? In 

 the Cripplegate Lectures (vol. i. p. 389.) is quoted, 

 " Licitis perimus omnes," but without any autho- 

 rity being given. Abhba. 



