414 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. N« 73., May 23. '57. 



not much delighted to read in print that Scott 

 had mimicked his homely hroad Scotch idiom and 

 manner, and preferred to exhibit to his friends 

 a Saxon version. Nothing more natural ; and 

 every one conversant with our fellow countrymen 

 of either Ireland or Scotland knows how very dif- 

 ficult it is to persuade them that they have been 

 guilty of any provincialism. Lord Byron relates 

 that Curran used to mimic Grattan's " thanking 

 God," with an accompaniment of the most gro- 

 tesque action, "that he had no peculiarity of 

 gesture or appearance." C. 



True Blue (2°^ S. iii. 329. 379.) — « True 

 Blue " has always been the Tory colour in Sufiblk. 

 Fifty years ago, when party spirit ran high, the 

 predominant opinion of constancy implied by it 

 was embodied in a fugitive verse which deserves 

 to be rescued from oblivion : 



" Time Blue will never stain ; 

 Yellow will with a drop of raia I 

 T G for ever." 



The attachment to this colour thus pervaded all 

 ranks. A very old woman at Ipswich used to 

 boast, " Whenever I die, I shall die ' Church and 

 King,' ' Church and King,' wonderful ! " Ac- 

 cordingly, when that event happened, it was 

 found that she had directed her coffin to be lined 

 with " true blue," which was actually done, and 

 she was buried in her favourite colour. T. C. 



Durham. 



Ring's End, Dublin (2"'^ S. ii. 149. 315.) —The 

 proper name of this place is Rin-Ann, i. e. The 

 Point of the Tide — a term very applicable to its 

 situation, but now corrupted into Rings-end. 

 (Seward's Topographia Hibernica.') F. 



Riphcean Hills (2°^ S. iii. 369.) — TheRiphaean 

 Mountains are frequently mentioned by the an- 

 cient Greek and Roman writers ; but their geo- 

 graphical knowledge of the north of Europe and 

 Asia was so imperfect and confused, that it is very 

 difficult to identify the mountain range which 

 they may have thus designated. That they are 

 the same with what are now known as the Ural 

 Mountains is rendered probable by many circum- 

 stances. Sir Walter Raleigh regarded them as a 

 mere geographical fiction. Vossius {ad P. Melam, 

 p. 106.) considered them as fabulous. The diffi- 

 culty is principally in these mountains being 

 usually assigned to Sarmatia, which, if we regard 

 it only as including Poland and European Russia, 

 is altogether a plain country ; and, therefore, the 

 conclusion was not unnaturally deduced that, as 

 the Riphasans did not exist within the bounds of 

 Sarmatia,'they did not exist at all. Their being 

 placed in Scythia by V. Sequester and Justin 

 obviates the difficulty in some degree. But con- 

 sult on this subject the English translation of 

 D'Anville's Ancient Geography (London, 1791, 



2 vols. 8vo.), vol. i. p. 267. The passages of an- 

 cient writers will be found in the various com- 

 ments on Vibius Sequester, P, Mela, &c. Compare 

 particularly a passage of Servius on Virg. GeorgicSy 

 lib. i. 240. ; and another of Eustathius on Dionys. 

 Perieges,, 211. Before blaming the ancient geo- 

 graphers on this matter, we should remember the 

 uncertainty which in our own times has prevailed 

 as to the position of many African localities, 

 mountains, and river courses. In both the an- 

 cient and the modern instances, we perceive 

 similar results proceeding from imperfect or erro- 

 neous information and inconsequential reasoning. 



Abtebcs. 

 Dublin. 



The Word " Alve" (2°'' S. iii. 347.)— Nash, 

 speaking of Alvechurch, Worcestershire, says : 



" Doubtless the place took its name from the Saxoa 

 founder of the church here, one ^Ifgyth; which, with 

 Alfwith, Alluuith, and the like, were common appella- 

 tions of our Saxon ancestors." 



He says also, that — 

 " In the most antient writings Alvechurch was called 

 * ^Ifgythe Circea.' In the Domesday survey, ' Alvieve 

 Church;* and in the latter records, Alviuechurch, Al- 

 vieth -Church, Alvechurch or AUchurch, as it is at this 

 day." 



W.T. 



Tripe Turner (2°'^ S. iii. 349.) — I trust T. T. 

 will forgive me if, without replying to his Query, 

 I make a note that tripe appears not always to 

 have been associated with penury. 



In the Cours Gastronomique occurs the follow- 

 ing : 



- "HoMERE rapporte, que dans un regal magnifique 

 prepare pour Achiixe, on servit des tripes de boeuf, et 

 que cela c'etait toujours observe atuv repas des Heros." 



May I ask where " Homerb " does " rapporte " 

 this ? R. W. Hackwoob. 



Casa Bianca (2°^ S. iii. 248.) — Your corre- 

 spondent T. F. B., who inquires about the original 

 narrative of the story of Mrs. Heraans' poem, will 

 find (if not the orig-inai account, of which I am not 

 sure) full particulars of the heroic conduct of this 

 boy in the Percy Anecdotes, volume " Heroism." 

 The only account which can be termed original 

 (if he has any reason for being particular on this 

 point) would, I presume, be found in the original 

 French Dispatches sent to Paris after the Battle 

 of the Nile by the surviving French commanding 

 officer. H. W. C. 



Ancient Representations of the Holy Trinity (2"^ 

 S. iii. 378.) — In looking through the only account 

 published of the splendid MS. History of the 

 Testament, of the thirteenth century, one vol. of 

 which is in the Bodleian, the other (Harleian, 

 1526.) in the British Museum, I find that the au- 

 thor states that the three-profiled representation 

 of the Holy Trinity (as described by Mr. MaudeX 



