124 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2°d s. X. Aug. 18. '60. 



It is worth remark that almost all travellers in 

 the Desert remark upon the quantity of petrified 

 wood found there. 



The northern nations, who also have these 

 stories of petrifactions, but upon a smaller scale, 

 may have adapted them from the traditions which 

 they brought with them from the East. 



C. Feerand Caeew. 



Dicky Dickenson. — That stupendous and very 

 extensive displacement of earth which took place 

 on Thursday, 29 Dec. 1737, at Scarborough, is 

 seldom, if ever, spoken of at the present time 

 without allusion to that most eccentric indi- 

 vidual Dicky Dickenson, the nondescript master 

 of the ceremonies there at that time. You have 

 in " N. & Q." (2°« S. ii. 189. 273. ; ix. 109.) 

 given many particulars of that rara avis, but in 

 perusing an old and curious work, The Life and 

 Adventures of Timothy Ginnadrake (a Pseudo- 

 nyme) in 3 vols. Bath, 1771, I have met with an 

 amusing account of Dickenson, and some in- 

 teresting anecdotes in vol. ii. pp. 61 — 66. I re- 

 gret they are too long for transcribing, and I am 

 therefore necessitated to refer your readers to 

 Ginnadrake himself. An engraving of Dicky 

 Dickenson, fine and scarce, occurred in Puttick's 

 sale of June 27, 1860. 2. 2. 



To Shunt. — I am inclined, though with some 

 diffidence, to question Webster's derivation of this 

 now common word. He says it is a " contraction 

 of shun it. In railways, a turning oiF to a short 

 rail, that the principal rail may be left free." 

 Shun is here used, I take it, in the sense of avoid- 

 ing. It seems to me, however, that it is an old 

 provincial word which means simply to shove. 

 Bailey has " to shunt, to shove," also " to shux, 

 to shove. (SufF.)" Coles has, " to shum, to 

 shove, Ss." (Sussex.) This shoving we constantly 

 witness in the neighbourhood of railway stations, 

 when a carriage or truck is removed by main 

 bodily force on to a siding. John Williams. 



Arno's Court. 



Defacement of Monuments in Ely Cathe- 

 deal. — Whatever the amount of damage to 

 the imagery and architectural beauties of Ely 

 Cathedral justly attributable to Oliver Cromwell 

 and his partisans, it is evident that the ruthless 

 hand of the destroyer was at work on the monu- 

 ments there as early as Queen Elizabeth's reign, 

 if we may believe the account given by Francis 

 Godwyn, in his Catalogue of the Bishops of Eng- 

 land, published in 1601. 



The following extracts from that book may in- 

 terest some of the readers of " N. & Q." who have 

 not the opportunity of referring to the original 

 work. In the description of John Hotham, Bishop 

 of Ely, from 1316 to 1336, it is said, 



" He lieth entombed in a monument of Alabaster that 

 was sometimes a very stately and goodly building, but 



now shamefully, defaced, as are also al other monuments 

 of the church. It standeth east from the lesse Altar, ia 

 the middle, but to the west end of the presbj'tery." 



Of John Barnet, Bishop of the same diocese in 

 1366, it is said, — 



" He died June 7, 1379, at Bishops Hatfield, and lieth 

 buried vpon the south side of the high altar ; in which 

 place there is to be seene a goodly tombe nionstrouslj' de- 

 faced, the head of the image being broken off, I take that 

 to be Barnets toombe." 



Herus Fratee. 



Witty Despatches. — An excellent writer, M. 

 Maxime Du Camp, in the Revue des Deux Mondes 

 for March 15, 1856 (p. 316.), alluding incidentally 

 to Hungary and the campaign in Transj'lvania, 

 says, "Bem, le terrible et legeiidaire capitaine, 

 repoussait Jellachich, et ecrivait cette etrange 

 lettre devenue celebre : ' Bem ban bum ; ' litte- 

 ralement, ' Bem bat Ban.' " 



This reminds one of the humorous turn of Sir 

 Colin Campbell, who, on the capture of Lucknow, 

 it is said, telegrapjied thus : " I am in luck now." 



Not a bad despatch either, and most laconic, 

 was that of Sir Charles Napier when he conquered 

 Scinde — " Peccavi." Churchdown. 



ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON. 



Amongst Cole's " racy Notes " lately printed 

 in " N. & Q." (x. 61.) occurs a disparaging refer- 

 ence to one who is alike above all praise or dis- 

 praise — Abp. Leighton. I am curious to see the 

 " very different character given him by Dr. Hickes 

 in Some Discourses on Dr. Burnet and Dr. Tillot- 

 son, pp. 23-24." Will some correspondent kindly 

 favour me with the passage referred to ? By-the- 

 way, Cole spells the name " Bp. Layton or 

 Leighton," which reminds me that I have heard 

 some few persons pronouncing it Layton ; but I 

 do not see how this perversion of the name caine 

 about, as it was originally spelt Leichtoune, Lich- 

 toun, Lyghton, and Lighten, as well as Leighton. 



ElHIONNACH. 



[The following passage is the one noticed in Cole's 

 notes. Dr. Hickes says " Now I am upon the subject of 

 latitude, I will beg leave of the reader to tell him a story 

 of toleration, or comprehension (for the difference some- 

 times is not great between them), which in the end will 

 touch a little on our preacher [Dr. Burnet] ; of whom I 

 must observe once for all, that it is his opinion that 

 • an historian who favours his own side is to be forgiven, 

 though he puts a little too much life in his colours when 

 he sets out the best side of his party, and the worst of 

 those from whom he differs; and if he but slightly 

 touches the failures of his friends, and severely aggravates 

 those of the Other side, though in this he departs from 

 the laws of an exact historian, j'et this bias is so natural, 

 that if it lessens the credit of the writer, yet it doth not 

 blacken him.' {Reflections on the History of Varillas, pp. 

 7, 8.) This shews how apt he is to favour his own 

 friends and his own party, beyond what is just and true; 



