246 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2>"> S. X. Skpt. 29. '60, 



ainsi n'est autre chose qu'une punition de la pens^e." — 

 Chap, xxxvii. 



I will indulge in one more quotation from a 

 modern essayist : — 



" Meantime we too admit that the present is an impor- 

 tant time ; as all present time necessarily is. The poorest 

 day that passes over us is the conflux of two Eternities ! 

 and is made up of currents that issue from the remotest 

 Past, and flow onwards into the remotest Future. We 

 were wise indeed could we discover truly the signs of 

 our own times ; and by knowledge of its wants and ad- 

 vantages wisely adjust our own position in it. Let us 

 then, instead of gazing idly into the obscure distance, look 

 calmly around us for a little on the perplexed scene 

 where we stand. Perhaps on a more serious inspection 

 something of its perplexity may disappear, some of its 

 distinctive characters and deeper tendencies, more clearly 

 reveal themselves ; whereby our own relations to it, our 

 own true aims and endeavours in it, may also become 

 clearer." — Carlyle, Essays (" Signs of the Times "). 



When Heraclitus has spoken, it is but fair that 

 Democritus should have his say; so by way of 

 contrast to graver considerations, and as commen- 

 tary on the whole subject, I conclude with the 

 quatrain of the light-hearted Frenchman, who re- 

 commends to 



"Donner h I'oubli le Pass^, 

 Le Present h I'indifference, 

 Et, pour vivre debarrass^, 

 L'Avenir h, la Providence." 



William Bates. 

 Edgbaston. 



The Tissure in Church Walls. — In the 

 many descriptions of the details in raediajval archi- 

 tecture, several have escaped the observation of 

 the most industrious of those whose observations 

 ■would have thrown much required information 

 upon the general history and application of mural 

 fissures, now little, if in the least, understood, but 

 in the past ages deemed essential to the display of 

 the pomps and ceremonies incidental to the re- 

 quired celebration of the sacred rites. 



The fissure in the wall is probably the least 

 decorated of the various mural appliances neces- 

 sary for purposes now desired to be investigated : 

 the situation varies, and the form is not uniformly 

 observed. In the churches of Great Plumstead 

 and Hossingham they are placed in the north wall, 

 directly opposite the principal entrance ; they are 

 carefully squared, and are about six inches In 

 width and depth, and about ten feet In height. 



In the church of Hovergate this appliance is of 

 larger dimensions : the width is about fifteen 

 inches, and the depth about twelve, and is about 

 ten feet in height. It is placed at the east side of 

 the principal or south entrance, and is headed by 

 a four-centered arch. 



In the church of St. John Sepulchre, in Nor- 

 wich, it is placed to the west of the south door, 



and materially difiers in construction from those al- 

 ready named : in width it is externally about twelve 

 inches, which is increased in the interior to about 

 two feet, and is made to penetrate the wall about 

 fifteen inches ; the height is about nine feet, which 

 is increased in the Interior by penetrating the wall 

 upwards to about fourteen feet. It is square- 

 headed, and moulded for a door, or more pro- 

 baWy a shutter. 



The assumption that these recesses were de- 

 signed as depositories for the cross, mounted on a 

 shaft, and usually carried in funeral processions, 

 is far from being satisfactorily confirmed ; the two 

 last named are sufiicient in size to admit the ban- 

 ners, if furled. These uses combined may suggest 

 the idea that these receptacles were intended for 

 the purpose of a western locker for the secure 

 keeping of required symbols, but less sacred than 

 those more valuable and venerated utensils pre- 

 served in the Eastern Ambrey. H. D'Avenet. 



Sanding before the Door at Marriages. — 

 In the town of Knutsford In Cheshire, and a 

 radius of some miles round It, a very curious cus- 

 tom prevails, of which I have never heard any 

 satisfactory explanation. When a marriage takes 

 place, on the day of Its celebration all the rela- 

 tions and friends of the happy pair make patterns 

 in white sand on the ground before their front 

 doors. No particular design is observed, but it 

 most commonly consists of a succession of curved 

 lines like the scales of fish one above the other. 

 When any well-known inhabitant is married, 

 nearly every door in the town is thus embellished. 



M. L. Fodder. 



Gun Flint Manufacture. — Among the in- 

 struments used for producing these flints (which 

 have not been snufled out by percussion caps) is 

 a knapping hammer, which, together with the 

 various specimens of the manufacture, may be 

 seen in the Museum of the Royal United Service 

 Institution, Whitehall Yard. Brown Bess. 



The Running Toad. — A communication ap- 

 peared in "N. &Q." (2'"J S. ix. 100.), with an 

 extract from the New York Independent of Dec. 

 29. last, giving an amusing account of " how a 

 toad undresses." The account has evidently lost 

 nothing by crossing ihe Atlantic. I have had a 

 fancy for keeping toads for many years ; but with 

 all my observation of their habits, I have never 

 witnessed so romantic a perfoi-mance as the above 

 would have us believe. I have made several at- 

 tempts to keep the species best known by the 

 name of the Hunning Toad, which differs much 

 from the common sort ; but after various experi- 

 ments, I am satisfied that this kind will not bear 

 confinement, I have just lost one whom I had 

 kept only two months, and this has been the 

 usual length of their lives with me in captivity. 

 Twelve days before he died, I found him changing 



