2'»"» S. N« 78., June 27. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



51^ 



Composition of Fire Balls (2"^ S. iii. 289.) — 

 The meaning of the terms calefonia and oyle of 

 (geseles is involved in considerable obscurity. 

 We know very well that the chemistry of olden 

 times delighted in a mystifying nomenclature, and 

 also that the term oil was applied to substances 

 widely differing from the true oils of modern 

 science. 



The " oyle of egeseles " appears to have been 

 oil of Agesilas ('Ayeo-iAos), i. e. oil of Pluto. Now 

 what could " oil of Pluto " be, but the old " oil of 

 sulphur" or " spirit of sulphur " ? This answers 

 to the " sulphuric acid " of more modern times, 

 and to the still more recent " vitriolic acid." 



I regret that I can give no definite account of 

 that other ingredient in the fire balls, calefonia. 

 It probably was the same as " calofonia," which 

 Elorio defines to be " a certaine drug or gum." 

 Possibly by a gum he means a resin. 



It may help some more fortunate investigator, 

 to suggest that calefonia, if a modification of " Ca- 

 lifornia," would mean as hot as a furnace, or, a 

 hot furnace. In referring calefonia to California, 

 however, I would not understand the country so 

 called, but rather the equivalent to " California " 

 in mediceval Latin, namely, " calidus-furnus," which 

 meant a caldron. 



■ Calefonia, then, was probably some combustible 

 usually boiled, like pitch, in a caldron, — yet not 

 actually pitch ; for " pydch " is mentioned amongst 

 the other ingredients of the fire balls. 



Thomas Boys. 



London's Loyalty (•2'"i S. ill. 324.) — The ballad 

 reprinted under this title is contained in 



"A Collection of One Hundred and Eighty Loyal 

 Songs, all written since 1678, and intermixt with several 

 New Love Songs. To which is added The Notes set by 

 several Masters of Musick, &c. London, Printed and are 

 to be sold by Richard Butt, in Princess-street in Covent 

 Garden, 1694." 



It contains some variations, and an additional 

 stanza, not found in Mr. Halliwell's broadside. 



Edward F. Rimbadlt. 



Early Hours (2"'* S. ii. 186.) — In my younger 

 days I used to visit a farmer in the Carse of 

 Gowrie during the school vacation, who break- 

 fasted at five o'clock in the morning, dined at 

 eleven in the forenoon, drank tea at three in the 

 afternoon, and supped at seven in the evening, 

 and then went to bed about nine. Stufhohn. 



Ehrenhreitstein (2"'^ S. iii. 388.) — The German 

 Ehren is not uncommon in names of fortresses, 

 like Ehrenhreitstein. We have the Ehrenberger 

 klause, near Reutte in Tyrol. R. S. Chabnock. 



Gray's Inn. 



The Lerot or Loir (2""^ S. iii. 289.) — Charles 

 Knight's popular work on Natural History, 2 vols, 

 fol., surely contains a notice of this animal. A 



friend of the writer's living in France some years 

 since had a tame one, and described it as larger 

 than a dormouse and the colour of Chinchilla fur, 

 and as living chiefly on grapes. P. P. 



Arms (2"'* S. iii. 409.) — The coat armour of a 

 family named Cotell is thus registered in Burke's 

 Armorie : — 



" CoTELL. Or, a bend gules, crescent for difference. 

 Crest. Out of a ducal coronet, or, a leopard sejant, proper." 



This is probably the family for whom your cor- 

 respondent A. inquires. Robeet S. Salmon. 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



" Cock my Fud" (2"'' S. iii. 487.) — The fud is 

 the hare's (Scottice, maukin's) or rabbit's tail or 

 brush — vide Jamieson's Dictionary, — and a hare 

 cocks his fud, or erects his little tail, when he is in 

 good spirits. A quotation from Burns will Illus- 

 trate this ; vide the Elegy on Tam Samson, who 

 was a famous sportsman : 



" Rejoice, ye birring paitricks a'. 

 Ye cootie moorcocks, crousely craw ; 

 Ye maukins, cock your fuds fu' braw 



Withouten dread ; 

 Your mortal foe is now awa', 



Tam Samson's dead ! " 



"^ Gone Curbie," is simply a dead crow or 

 raven ; and to call a person a gone corbie, is only 

 to say in other words, " it's all up with him ! " 



James S. Lamb. 



Underwood Cottage, Paisley. ; 



Ludolphus de Siichem (2°* S. iii. 330. 415.)— The 

 following extract is from Fabricii Bibliotheca 

 Med. el Inf. Lat. : 



" Ludolphus de Suchem. Suchensis Ecclesiae parochus 

 sive parochiae Rector ad Baldwinum Episcopum Pader- 

 bornensem a. 1336, scripsit librum de Terra Sancta et 

 itinere suo Hierosolj'mitano, mirabilibusque in illo per 

 quinquennium Conspectis. Prodiit sub initia typogra- 

 phias, ac deinde cum scriptis ejusdem argumenti, Joannis 

 Mandevillii et Marci Pauli Veneti." 



DUNELMENSIS. 



Stone Shot (1" S. x. 335. 413.) — Very large 

 stone shot, fit ibr the celebrated Mons Meg, may 

 be seen in Edinburgh Castle. Stufhuhn. 



" Raining Cats and Dogs " (2'^'' S. iii. 328.) — 

 Mr. Ford says : 



" When it rains ' cats and dogs ' it does so contrary to 

 all reason and experience, ' Kara Sd^as,' which we take to 

 be the true etymon of our cats and dogs." 



R. S. Chabnock. 

 Gray's Ian. 



Spider-eating (2"-^ S. iii. 206. 437.) — In the 

 fens of Huntingdonshire more than one case of 

 spider-eating came positively within my own know- 

 ledge ; and, from what I heard, I have reason to 

 believe that these cases were by no means infre- 

 quent, or confined to the more ignorant. The 



