2nd S. No 76., JtTNB Id. '6l] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



%H 



and was leader at all the country concerts, and at the 

 theatre at Norwich. 



•• The story is, or was so well known at the time, that 

 perhaps it is needless to mention it to you. But you 

 possibly may have forgotten it. It occurred to me, on 

 reading the book you brought me this morning. 

 " Your sincere Friend, 



♦' William Beechey." 



Itoman Catholic Phrases on Protestant Lips. — 

 We all know how a phrase lingers in current usage 

 long after the opinion or sentiment tliat gave it 

 birth has died out. Those of your readers who 

 are familiar with the literature of the periods im- 

 mediately succeeding the Reformations of the 

 Church under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth will 

 call to mind numerous illustrations of this. An 

 instance that I have recently met with seems to 

 me worth a note. In a grant by letters patent of 

 10th July, 1st Edw. VI. (Pat. 1 E. 6. p. 4. n. 14.), 

 to Sir William Herbert, a reference to Hen. VIII. 

 is thus made : 



"Cum p'charissim' pater noster dignissime memorie 

 et fame Henricus octavus nup Kex Angl' cujus cue p'pidef 

 Deus," &c. 



In another grant to Sir W. Herbert of exactly the 

 same date (Pat. 1 E. 6. p. 7. m. 13.), the writer 

 adopts more Protestant language in reciting an 

 act of Hen. VIII,, " Cujus aid apud Deum vivat.'' 



H. G. H. 



Wooden Altars. — Lempriere, in his account of 

 the Da3dala, two festivals held in Bceotia, says : — 



" Here an Altar, of square pieces of wood cemented to- 

 gether like stones, was erected ; and upon it were thrown 

 large quantities of combustible materials. Afterwards a 

 bull was sacrificed to Jupiter, and an ox or heifer to 

 Juno, by every one of the Cities of Bceotia, and by the 

 most opulent that attended. The poorest citizens offered 

 small cattle," &c. 



This shows that the modern notion, that a sacri- 

 fice cannot be oflFered up on a wooden altar, is 

 quite untenable. M. P. 



Ornithological. — I have lately met, in Stafford- 

 shire and Shropshire, with a curious local name 

 for the great titmouse, " the Prinpriddle." The 

 long-tailed titmouse is also there known as " the 

 Canbottle ; " elsewhere it is called " the Mum- 

 rufBn." The other day a singularly beautiful nest 

 of this bird was brought to me, and is now hang- 

 ing in a conspicuous situation in my room. It 

 bad been carefully taken out of a blackthorn 

 bush {not with my knowledge or wish, for I could 

 not have had the heart to rob the clever little 

 birds of their charmingly-constructed home), and 

 contained fourteen small delicately spotted eggs. 

 The chief stem of the blackthorn divides into four 

 stiff twigs, and, firmly interlaced among these is 

 the pendulous nest of moss and feathers, crusted 

 over with lichens. The entrance to the nest is 

 its most singular part. On the left-hand side of 

 the hole, and just within it, three pheasants' fea- 



thers are firmly fixed, in such a manner that they 

 completely cover the aperture, but can be readily 

 pushed aside by the bird, as it enters and leaves 

 the nest. These pheasants' feathers, being only 

 fastened at one end, give way to a slight pres- 

 sure, and then, by their own flexibility, return 

 to their original position. This novel, ingenious^ 

 and beautiful door, effectually protects the nest 

 from wet. 



Surely here is a fit subject for a companion 

 sonnet to that of Wordsworth's on the " Wild 

 Duck's Nest." 



" The imperial consort of the Fairy-King 

 Owns not a sylvan bower ; or gorgeous cell 

 With emerald floored, and with purpureal shell 

 Ceilinged and roofed ; that is so fair a thing 

 As this low structure, for the tasks of Spring," 



Miscellaneous Sonnets, xv. 



CUTHBERT B£D£. 



^wtxiti. 



ARMS ON MONUMENT IN WARK\<^ORTH CHURCH. 



There is a recumbent figure of a warrior on a 

 tomb in Warkworth Church, Northumberland^ 

 bearing on his shield a cross charged with five 

 eagles displayed, and an amulet — supposed to 

 denote the fifth house — in the first quarter, but 

 the tincture of the shield and bearings cannot be 

 distinguished. The tomb is currently believed to 

 mark the last resting-place of a crusader ; but no- 

 thing is known as to its identity, except that it is 

 asserted to belong to some alliance of the Grey 

 family. I have searched the Grey pedigree, as 

 well as the pedigrees of most of the ancient Nor- 

 thumbrian houses, but I cannot find the name of 

 any person therein who bears the arms in question. 

 The only arms which at all resemble them are the 

 arms of " Strother," an old Northumbrian family 

 alluded to by Chaucer in his " Reeves Tale," viz. 

 on a bend 3 eagles displayed ; but the resemblance 

 between the two coats is too slight to afford me 

 any assistance in my search. Perhaps amon^ 

 your numerous heraldic and antiquarian readers, 

 some one may have met, or may be able to meet, 

 with the arms, of which I am anxious to discover 

 the owner, and may be kind enough to give me 

 the benefit of his superior information on the sub- 

 ject. 



I have since ascertained that the tomb in Wark- 

 worth church, to which the foregoing inquiry re- 

 lates, bears the following inscription : 



" The Effigies of S'. Hugh of Morwicke, who gave the 

 Common to this Towne of VVarkworth." 



The arms on the shield borne by the recum- 

 bent figure on this tomb do not, however, seem to 

 be the arms assigned to the family of Morwicke, 

 which, according to Burke's Armory, are, " Gules, 

 a saltier vaire, ar. and sa." 



