492 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 134. 



other tragicall, magicall inchantments, and then they 

 put it by little and little into a frying-pan of boyling 

 suet, where it makes a confused dismal hissing, like 

 the Lernean snakes in the reeds of Acheron, Stix, or 

 Plilegeton, until at last by the skill of the cooke it is 

 •transformed into the forme of a Flap-Jack, which in 

 our translation is called a Pancake, which ominous in- 

 cantation the ignorant people doe devoure very greedily, 

 liaving for the most part well dined before ; but they 

 have no sooner swallowed that sweet-candied baite, 

 but straight their wits forsake them, and they runne 

 Starke mad, assembling in routs and throngs number- 

 lesse of ungovernable numbers, with uncivill civill 

 commotions." In the " Forme of Cury," published 

 with other cookery in Warner's Antiquitates CulinaricB, 

 p. 33., and written in 1390, we find a kind of fried 

 cakes called " comadore," composed of figs, raisins, and 

 other fruits, steeped in wine, and folded up in paste, to 

 be fried in oil. This suggests another savoury Query, 

 Whether this is not an improvement on our apple 

 fritters ?] 



Shakspeare, Tennyson, and Claudian. — 

 " Lay her i' the earth. 

 And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 

 May violets spring !" — Hamlet, Act V. Sc, 1. 



" 'Tis well ; 'tis something we may stand 

 Where he in English earth is laid, 

 And from his ashes may be made 

 The violet of his native land." 



In Memoriam, XVIII. 



I remember having seen quoted, apropos of the 

 lines of Shakspeare, a passage from some Latin 

 poet (Claudian, I think) which contained the same 

 idea. Can you, or any of your correspondents, 

 favour me with it ; as also where they are to be 

 found? And can they give me the origin and 

 reason of the idea. H. Johnston. 



Liverpool. 



[The passage to which our correspondent refers is 

 most probably that already quoted by Steevens, from 

 Persius, Sat. I. 



" e tumulo, fortunataque favilla 



Nascentur violae ? "] 



THE RING FINGER. 



(Vol. v., pp. 114. 371.) 



My subsequent reading has not only confirmed, 

 but added to the information conveyed in the 

 reference quoted. I there surmised that the third 

 was the ring finger, because the thumb and first 

 two fingers have always been reserved as symbols 

 of the blessed Trinity, and consequently the third 

 was the first vacant finger. Both the Greek and 

 Latin church agree in this, that the thumb and 

 first two fingers signify the blessed Trinity. And 

 whilst these three fingers signify the Trinity, the 



third and fourth fingers are emblematic of the two 

 natures of Christ, the human and divine. As then 

 the third finger served to symbolise the. human 

 nature, and marriage was instituted to propagate 

 the human race, that was made the wedding finger. 

 The right hand is the hand of power : hence the 

 wife wears the ring on the ring finger of the left 

 hand. The Greeks make each of the first three 

 fingers, i. e. the thumb and two fingers, symbolise 

 one of the divine persons. M. Didron informs us 

 that, during his visit to Greece in 1839, the Arch- 

 bishop of Mistra — 



"Whom I interrogated on the subject, informed me 

 that the thumb, from its strength, indicated the Creator, 

 the Father Eternal, the Almighty ; that the middle 

 finger was dedicated to Jesus Christ, who redeemed us ; 

 and that the forefinger, between the thumb and middle 

 finger, figured the Holy Ghost, wlfo proceeds from the 

 Father and the Son, and in representations of the 

 blessed Trinity is placed between those two persons." 



A bishop's ring is emblematic of the gifts of the 

 Holy Ghost : and formerly bishops wore their ring 

 on the forefinger of the right hand. Cetkep. 



" And the priest, taking the ring, shall deliver it 

 unto the man, to put it upon the fourth finger of the 

 woman's left-hand." — Rubric, Marriage Service. 



Pray let the lady be comforted ! Surely the 

 most punctilious Rubrician will make no imperti- 

 nent inquiries about the missing finger, so long as 

 a fourth remains. But even if all be wanting, I 

 will engage to find her a priest whose conscience 

 will not be hurt at allowing the stump to pass 

 muster. Digitalis. 



THE MORAVIAN HYMNS. 



(Vol. v., pp. 30. 474.) 



Having followed with interest the late discussion 

 In your pages upon the earlier specimens of those 

 strange productions, the Moravian Hymns, it seems 

 to me, that although much that Is curious has been 

 elicited, the Query of P. H., touching the genuine- 

 ness of the extraordinary sample reproduced by 

 him from the Oxford Magazine for 1769, remains 

 unanswered. It Is therefore with a view to sup- 

 ply some Information directly to this point, that I 

 now beg to introduce to your readers my earliest 

 edition, which looks very like the editio princeps 

 of Part ni. : at all events it takes precedence of 

 that described by H. C. B. Its title Is, A Collec- 

 tion of Hymns, consisting chiefly of Translations 

 from the German Hymn-look of the Moravian 

 Brethren. Part III. Small 8vo. pp. 168. 

 London, printed for James Hutton, 1748. 



At first sight there would appear to be no dif- 

 ference between H. C. B.'s volume and mine, be- 

 yond the latter being the earlier by one year ; 



