596 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 138. 



in Webster's Dictionary^ 2 vols. 4to., London, 1832. 

 The beard, or byssus, found in a few genera only, 

 as Avicula, Mytiliis, Pinna, and some others, is 

 strong and silky, formed of numerous fibres pro- 

 duced from a gland near the foot of the soft 

 animal, and employed by it to form an attachment 

 to rocks or other objects. In Sicily this is some- 

 times made into gloves or stockings, more for 

 curiosity than use. A byssus now before me 

 measures six inches in length, is delicately soft 

 and glossy, varying in colour from a rich dark 

 brown to golden yellow, and is nearly as fine as 

 the production of the silk-worm. Byssine is an 

 old name ibr fine silk. Wm. Yareell. 



Mistletoe (Vol. v., p. 534.). — Mr. Jesse, in his 

 agreeable and instructive Scenes and Tales of 

 Cotmtry Life, has devoted a chapter of eight pages 

 to the mistletoe, giving a list of more than forty 

 different species of trees and shrubs upon which 

 this parasitic plant has been found, with many 

 localities. In this list the white, gray, black, and 

 Lombardy poplars are included. The mistletoe 

 is there stated to have been found growing on the 

 oak near Godalming, Surrey ; at Penporthleuny, 

 parish of Goitre, Monmouthshire; also on one near 

 Usk, and another at St. Dials near Monmouth. 



Wm. Yaerell. 



The Number Seven (Vol. v., p. 532.).— The 

 reply to the Query of Mr. Edwards is, that 

 sheva, " seven," is used indefinitely for much or 

 frequently in Ruth iv. 15., 1 Sam. ii. 5., Is. iv. 1., 

 Jer. XV. 9., and Ezech. xxxix. 9. 12. ; also in 

 Prov. xxiv. 16., where, however, it may refer to 

 seven witnesses or pledges, as in Gen. xxi. 28 — 30. 

 Compare Herodotus, 1. 3. c. 8. on the seven stones 

 of the Arabs, with Homer's Iliad, 1. 19. v. 243. on 

 the seven tripods of Agamemnon. In Arabic and 

 Hebrew the word seva means finished, completed, 

 satiated, as in Ezech. xvi. 28, 29. and Hos. iv. 10. 

 Seven, as an astronomical period, is known to 

 most nations, and has been from times prior to 

 history. Clemens Alex. (Stromal, lib. vi. p. 685., 

 Paris, 1629) says the moon's phases are changed 

 every seven days. Seleucus, the mathematician, 

 he also says distinguished seven phases of that 

 luminary. He notices the seven planets, seven 

 angels, seven stars in the Pleiades and in the 

 Great Bear, seven tones in music, seventh days in 

 diseases, and gives an elegant elegy of Solon on 

 the changes of every seven years in man's life. 

 Clemens (lib. v. p. 600., Paris, 1629) has accumu- 

 lated a variety of passages from ancient poets on 

 the sacredness of the seventh day. Cicero, in the 

 Somnium Scipionis, speaks of seven as " numerus 

 rerum fere omnium nodus est." The following 

 have treated on this mystic number : Fahii Pau- 

 lini Hebdomades, sive septem de septenario libri; 

 Omeisius de Numero septenario ; Philo, de Mundi 

 vpificio ; Macrobius, in Somnio Scipionis, 1. 50. c. 6. ; 



Gellius, Noct. Attic. 1. 3. 10.; Censorinus de die 

 Natali, c. 7. ; and Eusebius, de Praep. Evang. 

 1. 13. c. 12. The Hebrews commemorated their 

 seventh day, a seventh week (Pentecost), the 

 seventh month (commencing their civil year), the 

 seventh year (for fallowing the land), and the 

 seven times seventh year, or jubilee. 



T. J. BUCKTON. 



Bristol Road, Birmingham. 



Gabriel Hounds (Vol. v., p. 534.). — The term 

 occurs in Mr. Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaic and 

 Provincial Words, ^c, vol. i. p. 388., with the fol- 

 lowing explanation : — 



" At Wednesbury, in Staffordshire, the colliers going 

 to their pits early in the morning hear the noise of a 

 pack of hounds in the air, to which they give the 

 name of Gabriel's Hounds, though the more sober and 

 judicious take them only to be wild geese making this 

 noise in their flight Kennett, MS. Lansd. 1033." 



The species here alluded to is the Bean Goose, 

 Anser segetum, of authors. A few of them breed 

 in Scotland and its islands, but by far the larger 

 portion breeds till farther north, in Scandinavia. 

 Of the various birds which resort to this country 

 to pass the winter season the Bean Goose is one of 

 the first. I have .seen very large flocks in Nor- 

 folk early in September, where they feed on the 

 stubbles. I have good authority for their appear- 

 ance in Gloucestershire, in the vicinity of the 

 Severn, by the last week in August. This is in 

 accordance with the habits of this goose in some 

 parts of the Continent; Sonnerat and M. de 

 Sells Longchamps calling it L'oie des moissons, or 

 Harvest Goose. They are frequently very noisy 

 when on the wing during the night, and the 

 sound has been compared to that of a pack of 

 hounds in full cry. Wm. Yarrell. 



Burial (Vol. v., p. 509.).— To the names already 

 given of those interred in ground not consecrated, 

 may be added that of the eccentric Samuel John- 

 son, formerly a dancing-master, but through his 

 talent, wit, and gentlemanly manners, became the 

 guest and table companion of the principal families 

 of Cheshire. 



He is not mentioned in Chalmers's Biog. Diet, 

 and but very meagrely in that of Rose. The best 

 notice of him is in the Biographia Dram., ed. 1812, 

 as the author of JJurlothrumbo : or the Supe?'- 

 natural, and five other dramatic pieces, the first 

 of which took an amazing run, owing to the whim- 

 sical madness and extravagance which pervade 

 through the whole piece. Besides these, he is the 

 writer of another strange mystical work, which, as 

 I do not find it anywhere mentioned, I will give 

 the title of, from my copy now before me: 



" A Vision of Heaven, which is introduc'd with 

 Essays upon Happiness, a Description of the Court, 

 the Characters of the Quality: Politics, Manners, 

 Satyr, Wit, Humour, Pastoral, Sublimity, Extasy, 



