2°« S. X. Dec. 15. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



477 



bones, frying-pans, every thing in short from 

 ■which more and rougher noise than ordinary could 

 be extracted. At a given signal they halted, and 

 the orator began to recite a lot of doggrel verses, 

 of which I can only remember the beginning : — 



" There is a man ia this place 

 Has beat his wife ! ! iforte. A pause.) 

 Has beat his wife ! !' (fortissimo.) 

 It is a very great shame and disgrace 

 To all who live in this place. 

 It is indeed upon my life ! ! " 



After some score or more lines of such " sweet 

 poesy " another signal was given, and the orches- 

 tra burst out " in transport and rude harmony," 

 aided by the howling and hooting of those whose 

 breath was not otherwise engaged in giving wind 

 to the horns and whistles. A bonfire was then 

 lighted, round which the whole party danced as if 

 they were crazy. I was told the noise was heard 

 two miles off'. After keeping this up for near half 

 an hour, silence was proclaimed, and the orator 

 advancing hoped he should not be obliged to come 

 again, and recommended better conduct for the 

 future. This rough music was secretly encouraged 

 by the neighbours, who clubbed for beer for the 

 band, and it was believed to have the best moral 

 effect on all parties. The husband was certain to 

 be ashamed of his position ; and if the wife by her 

 ill-conduct had brought this on herself, she could 

 not avoid the suggestions of her own conscience 

 thereon. I believe it to have been a more effec- 

 tual remedy than appeals to police-magistrates, 

 or Sir Creswell Cresswell, or even to the cat-o'- 

 ninetails threatened by Lord Palmerston. But 

 there was this practical inconvenience. The whole 

 time the rough music and the bonfire were going 

 on the road was utterly impassable, and in one 

 case a gentleman was severely injured by a fall 

 from bis horse, which took fright at the sudden 

 burst of the noisy orchestra, and ran away. The 

 magistrates, therefore, notified it would not be 

 permitted, and the police silenced for ever " the 

 rough music." The "speech" seemed to be as 

 well known as the boys' celebrated 

 " Remember, remember 

 The fifth of November." 



I should be glad to recover it if possible. Some 

 of the readers of " N. & Q." may be able to assist 

 me. It would add another curiosity to your litera- 

 ture of the folk. A. A. 

 Poets' Corner. 



Leckhampton Custom (2°^ S. x. 363.) — The 

 Sheffield newspapers for the weeks ending Nov. 

 10 and Nov. 17, contained long accounts of dis- 

 turbances caused by the police interfering at 

 Greasbro,' near Rotherham, with the time- 

 honoured custom of " riding the stang" ; in which 

 effigies were carried about in the way described 

 by your querist, and of which he will find the 



history in Brand's Antiquities, ii. 118. (Knight's 

 edit.) J. Eastwood. 



GHOST IN THE TOWER, 

 (2"* S. X. 145. 192. 236. 277. 291. 373.) 



All those who were interested by Dr. Gregory's 

 account (received from Sir David Brewster) of 

 supernatural appearances in the Tower of Loudon, 

 are much obliged by Me. Edmund Lenthal 

 Swiftb's authentic statement of his personal know- 

 ledge of the occurrence, and by his correction of 

 some errors in Dr. Gregory's account of it. But 

 there are two particulars in that account which 

 are neither confirmed by Mr. Swifte in his own 

 narrative (x. 192.) nor denied by him in his rec- 

 tification (x. 374.) of Dr. Gregory's statement, 

 with which statement he appears to be acquainted 

 only through Professor de Morgan's allusion to 

 it (x. 277.), where those particulars are not men- 

 tioned. 



Perhaps, then, Mr. Swifte, in addition to the 

 interesting information he has already given upon 

 the subject, will have the goodness to reply to the 

 following Queries : — 



1. Is it true, as stated by Dr. Gregory, that 

 '■'■ M7-S. Swifte perceived a /arm," . apparently not 

 perceived in the cylindrical tube by Mr. Swifte ? 



2. If so, what was her description of the " form " 

 perceived only by herself? 



3. Is there any truth in Dr. Gregory's state- 

 ment of an immediate failure in Mrs. Swifte's 

 health, consequent upon the supernatural appear- 

 ance, and terminating, though not so rapidly as in 

 the case of the soldier, in a no less " fatal re- 

 sult?" 



"The Serjeant's comment," Of which Mb. Swifte 

 declares himself to be unaware, was probably mnde 

 to the colonel of the regiment, who, in Dr. Gre- 

 gory's account, appears to be confounded with the 

 Keeper of the Regalia, the eye-witness" of the in- 

 doors apparition. 



Some readers of Mr. Swifte's narrative (x. 

 192.) have not gathered from his expression — 

 " following hard at heel " that the apparition to 

 the soldier occurred, as stated by Dr. Gregory, on 

 the same night as that within the Jewel House. 

 But a collation of the narrative with Mr. Swifte's 

 reply to Mr. Offor (x. 236.) seems to leave no 

 reasonable doubt that the same night is indicated 

 by that expression, M. P. 



While reading the case of Baron de Guldenstubbe, 

 the " Spectre of the Brocken " rushed into my mind ; 

 and farther reflection convinced me that two ap- 

 paritions so closely resembling each other as those 

 of Mr. Swifte and the Baron must be due to 

 natural causes. The latter case also resembles 

 one which recently occurred at Bonchurch, and 

 was described in The Times. I would ask, — Is it 



