J"* 8. NO 71., May 9. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



365 



my mite in the department of similarity of cus- 

 toms and superstitions. In this branch of the 

 subject any man of common observation may aid 

 the inquiry ; and I trust I shall have the honour to 

 be the first, although the least important, name 

 on the " subscription list." 



Most Irishmen of this generation recollect the 

 "blessed turf" of the _^/'«^ cholera year in Ireland. 

 I well remember the awe-struck curiosity with 

 which, as a boy, I witnessed its lightning-like 

 transit. On a dark winter's evening I chanced to 

 visit a cottier's cabin near my father's residence, 

 close to the town of Kilkenny. Whilst there, a 

 peasant, breathless and exhausted, rushed into the 

 ever-open door with a lighted turf in his hand ; 

 and after the usual " God save all here," com- 

 manded the "man of the house" to "serve seven 

 houses;" "for," said he, "the cholera has come 

 to New Birmingham (a village about fifteen miles 

 distant), and to keep it off you must do as you 

 are bid, or it will be worse for you." The fiery 

 sign was then deposited on the hearth, and the 

 man departed, taking up another turf, and say- 

 ing, "I must serve three more houses before I 

 sleep." The cottier and his family looked in 

 blank amazement at each other ; at last the eldest 

 son spoke, and said, "Father, we had better, in 

 God's name, do as we are bid." And instantly 

 three fleet-footed "boys"* were dashing over 

 hedge and ditch, carrying the fiery sign to the 

 required seven houses ; and many a time the 

 wearied messenger found that the homesteads 

 near him were " served" already, and the fool was 

 sent further. Thus the "blessed turf" spread 

 east, west, north, and south ; and, in one night, 

 pervaded the entire island. The press rang with 

 the occurrence ; and, Ireland being then in one 

 of its periodical paroxysms of disaffection, the 

 "blessed turf" was supposed to be the experi- 

 ment of some insurrectionist, to ascertain the 

 shortest time in which the signal of a "rising" 

 could be transmitted over the face of the land. 

 On inquiry, however, it soon appeared that the 

 event was not connected in the mind of the people 

 with the secret societies, which were then rife ; 

 it had evidently a religious signification, and was 

 supposed to be efficacious to avert the much- 

 dreaded pestilence, which soon after swept over 

 the land. 



Such is my Irish instance : now for the Hindu 

 parallel, cut from the London correspondence of 

 The Times, dated at " Bombay, March 3, 1857 : "•— 



" From Cawnpore to Allahabad and onwards towards 

 the great cities of the north-west, the chokedars, or 

 policemen, have been of late spreading from village to 

 village — at whose command, or for what object, they 

 themselves, it is said, are ignorant — little plain cakes of 

 wheaten flour. The number of the cakes and the mode of 

 their transmission is uniform. Chokedar, of village A, 



• Hibemic^ for « young man," the GftUic Celt's Gargm. 



enters village B, and, addressing its chokedar, commits to 

 his charge two cakes, with directions to have other two 

 similar to them prepared; and, leaving the old in his 

 own village, to hie with the new to village C, and so on. 

 The English authorities of the districts through which 

 these edibles passed, looked at, handled, and probably 

 tasted them ; and, finding them upon the evidence of all 

 their senses harmless, reported accordingly to Govern- 

 ment. And it appears, I think, with tolerable clearness, 

 that the mysterious mission is not of political, but of 

 superstitious origin ; and is directed simply to the ward • 

 ing off of diseases, such as the choleraic visitation of 12 

 months ago, in which point of view it is noteworthy and 

 characteristic, and not unworthy to be remembered to- 

 gether with last year's grim and picturesque legend of 

 the horseman who rode down to the river at dead of 

 night, and was ferried across, announcing that the pesti- 

 lence was in his train." 



Comment is needless : but I venture to con- 

 clude with a schoolboy challenge to the readers 

 and contributors of "IST. & Q." — "Better me 

 this." James Graves, 



Kilkenny. 



EDWARD GIBBON. 



From my collection of autographs I select a 

 letter of the great historian, written during his 

 father's life, as I perceive that several of your 

 correspondents will welcome its publication. It is 

 addressed to Mr. Becket, the bookseller. 



" Mr. Becket. 

 *' I must desire you would immediately send me Mac- 

 pherson's Dissertations printed for yourself. If you have 

 them already' bound, they will be most agreeable in that 

 form ; but at all events I must have them at farthest Sa- 

 turday night by the Machine. To speak plainly they are 

 designed for the ' Journal ' which (notwithstanding some 

 delay occasioned by my stay in the Isle of Wight) will be 

 soon ready, and will, I trust, prove an honourable and 

 profitable work for you. 



" If you can have them ready (but not otherwise) you 

 will likewise send me, — 



Warner's history of Civil Wars of Ireland, 2 vol. 

 Hist, de la Monarchie Fran^oise, par I'Abbe du Bas, the 



4 Edition. 2 Vol. 

 Origines de I'ancien Gouvernement de France, d'ltalie, 

 &c. 4 Vol. 12°. 



*' I am yours, &c. 



" E. Gibbon, Junior. 



"December the 23^, 1767." 



The "Journal" mentioned was one he contem- 

 plated with Mr. Deyverdun, a Swiss gentleman, 

 in imitation of Dr. Maty's Journal Britannique, 

 and was published in the next year under the 

 title oi Memoires Litterairea de la Grande Bretagne. 



Edward Foss. 



Minav fi,attA* 



Aristophanes : Shakspeare. — Turning over 

 Gerard's translation of " The Clouds " of Aristo- 

 phanes I found the following passage : 



" Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a 

 Cwtaur, or a Pard, pr a Wolf, or a Bull ? » — P. 29. 



