NOTES AND QUERIES: 



A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION . 



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LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



" Vtrbeii found, make a note of." — Caftaik C utile. 



Vol. v.— No. 119.] Saturday, February 7. 1852. 



C Price Fourpence. 



i Stamped Edition, gd. 



CONTENTS. 

 Notes : — Page 



Stone-Pillar Worship still existing in Ireland, by Sir 



J. Emerson Tennent - - - - - 121 



The Invasion of Britain - - - - 123 



Hermits. Ori)aniental and Experimental - - - 123 



David Mallet, his Character and Biography, by Dr. E. 



F. Rimbault 124 



Minor Notes : — The Hyphen — Old Books and New 



Titles — Eugene Aram — Inscription at Hardwicke 



Hall 124 



Queries : — 



.Tiinius Queries ------ 125 



What is the Derivation of " Garsecg?" - - - 126 



Minor Queries : — Commemoration of Benefactors — 

 Pedigree of Richard, Earl of Chepstow — Twenty- 

 seven Children — Esquires of the Martyred King — 

 Braem's " Memoires tnichant le Commerce" — News- 

 papers — Serjeant Trumpeter — Lunhunter — Family 

 of BuUen — Hurnomania — Rent of Assize — White 

 Livers — Welsh Names Blaeii — .Jesuits — " The right 

 divine of Kings to govern wrong" — Valentines, when 

 first introduced ------ 



Minor Querus .\nswered :— The Bed of Ware— Merry 



Andrew — A Baron's Hearse — Saint Bartliolomew 



Moravian Hymns; Taititha's Dream — Story of Gi- 

 nevra — Play of " Pompey tlie Great " - - 



Replies : — 



The Three Estates of the Realm - - - - 



Legend of St. Kenelra ; in Clent cou B.iche, by S. W. 

 Singer, &c. ------ 



Isabel, Queen of the Isle of Man, by W. Sidney Gibson 

 Long Meg of Westminster, by Dr. E. F. Riiubault 

 The Introduction of Stops, &c. - - . _ 



Papers of Perjury ------ 



Replies to Minor Queries : — Rev. Thomas Adams, D.D. 



— John Wiggan — " Poets beware ! " — Traditions of 

 Remote Periods, &c. — Heraldical MSS. of Sir Henry 

 St. George Garter — Dr. John Ash — Inveni Hortum — 

 Goldsmith — Lords Marchers — Foreign Ambassadors 



— Church, whence derived — Cross-legged Effigies 



Sir Walter Raleigh's Snuffbox — Epigram on lEras- 

 mus — General Wolfe — Ghost Stories — Epigram on 

 Burnet — " Son of the Morning," &c. . - - 



Miscellaneous : — 



Notes on Books, &c. . - . . . 



Books and Odd Volumes wanted - - . - 



Notices to Correspondents - - - . 



Advertisements ...... 



126 



128 



142 

 142 

 142 

 143 



STONE-PILLAR WORSHIP STILL EXISTING IN 

 IRELAND. 



In a work recently published by the Earl of 

 Roden, entitled Progress of the Reformation in 

 Ireland, there occurs a curious account of a rem- 

 nant of this ancient form of fetichism still existing 

 in Inniskea, an island off the coast of Mayo, with 

 about 380 inhabitants ; amongst whom, he says, 

 VoL.V. — No. 119. 



" A stone carefully wrapped up in flannel is brought 

 out at certain periods to be adored ; and when a storm 

 arises, this god is supplicated to send a wreck on their 

 coast." — P. 51. 



A correspondent In the same volume writes to 

 Lord Roden that — 



" They all speak the Irish language, and among 

 them is a trace of that government by chiefs, which in 

 former times prevailed in Ireland : the present chief or 

 king of Inniskea is an intelligent peasant called Cain, 

 whose authority is acknowledged, and the settlement 

 of all disputes is referred to his decision. Though 

 nominally Roman Catholics, these islanders have no 

 priest resident among them ; they know nothing of 

 the tenets of that church, and their worship consists in 

 occasional meetings at their chief's house, with visits to 

 a holy well called Derivla. The absence of religion is 

 supplied by the open practice of pagan idolatry. In 

 the south island a stone idol called in the Irish Neevougi, 

 has been from time immemorial religiously preserved 

 and worshipped. This god resembles in appearance a 

 thick roll of homespun flannel, which arises from the 

 custom of dedicating to it a dress of that material 

 whenever its aid is sought ; this is sewed on by an old 

 woman, its priestess. Of the early history of this idol 

 no authentic information can be procured, but its 

 power is believed to be immense ; they pray to it in 

 time of sickness, it is invoked when a storm is desired 

 to dash some hapless ship upon their coast, and again 

 it is solicited to calm the waves to admit of the islanders 

 fishing or visiting the main land." — lb. pp. 53, .54. 



This statement, irrespective of graver reflec- 

 tions, is suggestive of a curious inquiry, whether 

 this point of Ireland, on the utmost western verge 

 of Europe, be not the last spot in Christendom in 

 which a trace can now be found of stone-pillar 

 worship ? — the most ancient of all forms of idolatry 

 known to the records of the human race ; and the 

 most widely extended, since at one time or another 

 it has prevailed in every nation of the old world, 

 from the shores of Lapland to the confines of India ; 

 and, I apprehend, vestiges of its former existence 

 are to be traced on the continent of America. 



Before men discovered the use of metals, or the 

 method of cutting rocks, they worshipped unhewn 

 stones ; and If the authenticity of Sanclionlathon Is 

 to be accepted, they consecrated pillars to the Jive 

 and the wind before they had learned to hunt, to 



