188 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd S. No 86., Sept. 6. '56. 



now so common with us, and the existence of such 

 a form amonor the Northmen is as good ground as 

 we can get, if the fact of such a legal usage is un- 

 doubted. Two " modern instances " occur to me. 

 Redgauntlet, vol. i. p. 177., Cadell's Edin.ed 1832. 

 Sir Walter (in that, I may say perfect, episode, 

 the tale of " Wandering Willie ") makes Steenie 

 Steensnn thus address the young laird of Red- 

 gauntlet : 



" I wuss je joy. Sir, of the head seat, and the white loaf, 

 and the braid lairdship. Your father was a kind man to 

 friends and followers: muckle grace to you. Sir John, to 

 Jill his shoon, — his boots, Isuld say, for he seldom wore shoon, 

 unless it were mine, wheii he had the gout." 



Stepnie's correction about the boots and "mine" 

 is a master's stroke, 



Thackeray {Miscellanies, vol. iii., " Memoir of 

 Barry Lvndon," London, 1856), uses the phrase 

 thus, at p. 266. [Lnrd BiiHin<>don gives liis mama 

 a hint tliat little Brvan (her son by Lyndon) is 

 standing in his shoes] : 



" Another day (it was Bryan's birthday) we were 

 giving a grand ball . . . ; there was a great crowding 

 and tittering when the child came in, led by his half- 

 brotlier. who walked into the drawing-room (would you 

 believe it) in his stocking- feet, leading little Bryan ly the 

 hand, paddling about in the great shoes of the elder I ' JJon't 

 you think he fits my shoes very well,' " Sfc. 



Instances of the use of this phrase would be 

 interesting. CD. L. 



THE JUMPING DANCE OF ECHTEBNACH. 



The following extract from the Literary Ga- 

 zette of July 12th, descriptive of a |)opular re- 

 ligious festival still observed in the neighbourhood 

 of Treves, is well worthy of preservation in the 

 columns of " N. & Q. : " 



"The Festival is called 'The Jumping Procession (lite- 

 rally jumping dance) of Echternach.' Echtemach is a 

 small town in Luxembourg, about twenty English miles 

 from Treves, and is annually the resort of thousands who 

 meet here on Whit-Tuesday, some to witness, some to 

 join in this religious ceremonj', which is also called 'The 

 Procession of the Dancing Saints.' This custom originated 

 in the fourteenth century, when, in the year 1374, the 

 disease now called St. Vitus's Dance first broke out in the 

 archbishopric of Trfeves and Cologne, and other parts of 

 Germany. The name came from a chapel in Ulm, dedi- 

 cated to St. Vitus, which was greatly in vogue with those 

 afflicted with the disease, who flocked thither in crowds 

 to entreat the saint's intercession in their behalf. The 

 wise men of the day observing that those who suffered 

 under the disease were afflicted with spasmodic move- 

 ments of the limbs, which forced them to dance and jump 

 about like madmen, without any power over their own 

 will, until they fell down in a state of exhaustion, con- 

 ceived the idea that by voluntarily going through the 

 same process, and performing the same fatiguing move- 

 ments, they m ght ward off the disease itself, — a curious 

 foreshadowing of the systems of Jenner and Hahnemann. 

 Acting upon this idea, the procession of the jumpers was 



formed ; and once a-year, on Whit-Tuesday, it still wends 

 its way to the grave of St. Willibrodus, 'in the ancient 

 abbey church of Echternach. The procession starts from 

 the bridge, accompanied by several bands of music; the 

 pilgrims of both sexes form in rows, and spring first four 

 steps forward and three back, then eight steps forward 

 and three back, and so on, continually increasing the 

 steps forward, but making no change in those backward, 

 until they reach the church, when they throw themselves 

 on their faces and begin to pray. Having entered the 

 church, after the prayer, the flag-bearers and brothers of 

 the order place themselves under the great lustre, with 

 its seventy-two lighted tapers, and high mass, accom- 

 panied by solemn music, begins. I should have men- 

 tioned that the jumping march is performed to curious 

 old music, composed expressly for this ceremony. So 

 many evils arose from bringing such masses of people to- 

 gether in so small a compass — so much drunkenness, 

 riot, and debauchery — that it was suppressed by law in 

 1777; it was, however, reintroduced by Joseph the Se- 

 cond in 179(1, put down by the French in 1795, and again 

 appeared in 1802, in which ye;ir there were nearly 3000 

 dancers and 74 musicians. In the year 1812 there were 

 12,(578 dancers in the processiim, which has, however, now 

 diminished to an annual average of 8000. As may be 

 supposed, the priests antl puWIicans derive the solid ad- 

 vantages from these pious revelries." 



This is an item in what would form a very 

 curious cha|>ter in the History of Social Progress ; 

 and is suirgrestive of many Queries, whicdi I, for 

 one, should gladly see answered in " N. & Q." 



1. Do many such seiui-religious pageants still 

 exist on the Continent ? 



2. Do any such exist in England ? 



3. Has not some work on the subject of Fle- 

 mislt pageants been published within the last fe^r 

 years ? If so, what ia its precise title ? 



4. Have any books a[)peared here or on the 

 Continent on this curious subject ? 



5. Is not The Dance of Death * now generally 

 regarded as a pictorial representation of such a 

 pageant ? 



6. Am I right in my recollection that a paper 

 by Mr. Dudley Costello appeared some few years 

 since in one of the periodicals, descriptive of a 

 modern Dance of Death still exhibited in one of 

 the continental cities? 



7. Will the correspondents of " N". & Q." give 

 references to any information which they may 

 have met in old writers upon this subject ? 



F.S.A, 



Seven Oaks and Twelve Elms. — I should feel 

 much obliged if any of your correspondents could 

 account for the circumstance that in many parts 

 of the country may be seen plantations of seven 

 oaks and twelve ebns: the latter are usually planted 



[* If our correspondent takes an interest in The Dance 

 of Death, he may be glad to know that we have seen a 

 specimen of a new edition of Holbein's beautiful Alphabet 

 of Death, which is about to be published in Paris.] 



