Jan. 31. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



115 



he blesses with the thumb and first two fingers. 

 Our brasses and sepulchral slabs bear witness to 

 this fact. And at the marriage ceremony, the 

 ring is put on to the thumb and the first two 

 fingers, whilst the names of " The Father, and the 

 Son, and the Holy Ghost" are pronounced. Thus 

 the third is the first vacant finger, and the ring- 

 finger. T'he wedding-ring is worn on the left hand 

 to signify the subjection of the ivife to her husband. 

 The right hand signifies power, independence, 

 authority ; according to the words : 



" The salvation of his riglit hand is in powers." — 

 Psalm XX. 6. 



" The change of the right hand of the Most High." 

 — Psalm Ixxvii. 10. 



The left hand signifies dependence or subjection. 

 Married women, then, wear the wedding-ring on 

 the third finger of tlie left hand, because they are 

 subject to their husbands. 



Bishops, because they have ecclesiastical autho- 

 rity, and doctors, because they have authority to 

 teach, wear the ring on the ring-finger of the right 

 hand. Ceyrkp. 



Count Konigsmark (Vol.v., p. 78.). — The Queries 

 put by Mk. Markland will be found solved in 

 that excellent book, The English Causes Cclebres, 

 edited by Mr.Craik, and published in 1840. It is 

 a great pity that Mr. Craik's undertaking was not 

 prosecuted beyond vol. i. 



Walpole was wrong, and Sir Egerton Brydges 

 right. Charles John Count Konigsmark was the 

 instigator of the assassination of Mr. Thynne. 

 Philip Christopher von Konigsmark, the younger 

 brother of Charles John, was the presumed lover 

 of Sophia of Zell, 



Charles John von Konigsmark was mortally 

 wounded at the battle of Argos, on the 29th Au- 

 gust, 1686. 



The presumed "foul play" in the Konigsmark 

 case consisted, I suppose, in Chief Justice Pem- 

 berton summing up strongly, in accordance with 

 the known wish of the king, that the Count should 

 be acquitted. John Bruce. 



Mr. Markland will find his inquiries as to the 

 two Konigsmarks answered in a late number of 

 the Quarterly Review (I think that for October, 

 1851), in an article on the Lexington Papers. C. 



Petition respecting the Duke of Wellington 

 (Vol. iv., pp. 23.3. 477. ; Vol. v., p. 43.).— I thank 

 -5)grotus for the clue he has afforded me, as to 

 the date of the document he inquired for, and can 

 now give him some further particulars. At a 

 Court of Common Council held Feb. 23, 1810, in 

 consequence of a proposition in the House of 

 Commons to settle upon Lord Wellington 2000Z. 

 per ann. for three lives, a motion was made, and 

 carried by sixty-five to fifty-eight, to petition the 

 House against it. The petition is very long, but 



it is to the following tenor : it commences by ob- 

 jecting to the grant on the ground of economy, and 

 that his services have not deserved it ; " that his 

 gallant efforts in Portugal have lead only to the 

 disgraceful and scandalous Convention of Cintrr., 

 signed by his own hand;" that the result of the 

 battle of Talavera was a retreat, with the aban- 

 donment of sick and wounded ; that as yet they 

 have seen no inquiry into either of these cam- 

 paigns ; that he and his family have held lucrative 

 appointments in the East Indies ; that no provi- 

 sion has been made for the family of the highly 

 deserving Sir John Moore. It then goes on to 

 say, " that it appears a high aggravation of the 

 misconduct of his Majesty's incapable and unprin- 

 cipled advisers ; " that they advised his Majesty 

 to refuse to receive from the Lord Mayor and 

 Sheriffs, either at a levee, or personal audience, a 

 petition from the livery praying an inquiry into 

 the conduct of the commanders of the late cam- 

 paign. This is the substance of the petition which 

 I should think might be readily seen in extenso by 

 a reference to a file of newspapers of the date. 



E. N. W. 



Southwark. 



P.S. — The petition from the Livery, doubtless 

 agreed to in Common Hall, which the king refused 

 to receive, and which is referred to above, is most 

 probably the one which iEoROTUS inquires about, 

 and of which the Duke complains in his dispatch 

 of Jan. 1810. I have not been able to see it ; but 

 if I can find it, will send you notes of it : the mem. 

 I have sent establishes the fact of its having been 

 carried. 



ReichenbacKs Ghosts (Vol. iv , p. 5. ; Vol. v., 

 p. 89.). — If A. N. will do me the favour to refer 

 to my question, he will see that his remarks do 

 not furnish a reply, llelchenbach says, that 

 "thousands of ghost stories will now receive a 

 natural explanation," from his discovery that the 

 decomposition of animal matter is accompanied by 

 light, or luminous vapour, which is visible to cer- 

 tain sensitive persons. As I originally stated, " my 

 Query is, where to find the ' thousands of ghost 

 stories ' which are explained by it." I now repeat 

 that Query in unaffected ignorance. I have read 

 a good many ghost stories, British and foreign ; 

 but I know that some of the writers in " N. & Q." 

 are much better acquainted with German litera- 

 ture and superstitions than I am ; and I ask them 

 if they can tell me where to find such stories, — 

 that is, ghost stories explained by Reichenbach's 

 discovery ? I do not ask for " thousands," nor 

 even hundreds — a score or two will be quite 

 enough ; or even a dozen, if they are good ones. 



S. R. MAITI.AND. 



Gloucester. 



The Broad Arroio. — I can only offer the follow- 

 ing note on the above subject as a conjecture, 



