2»d8, N0 31., AuG.2. '56.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



99 



into the pages of "N. & Q." One inestimable 

 blessing which we owe to tbe Reformation, is the 

 freedom from the awful oaths in use up to that 

 time ; and it can serve no good purpose even to 

 know the precise forms of blasphemy by which an 

 incarnate Saviour was appealed to by " the faith- 

 ful." On this subject, see an article in the last 

 Christian Rememhrancer on the " Religious and 

 Social State of England before the Reformation." 



X. Y. Z. 



Whitsxinday (2°<i S. i. 521. ; ii. 77.) — Although 

 F. C. H. seems satisfied with " the received origin 

 of the name Whitsunday," I confess that the de- 

 rivation has always appeared to me the most un- 

 satisfactory and fanciful that could have been 

 chosen. Did neophytes always wear white gar- 

 ments on this day ? If they did, were they so 

 specially worn on that day only, as to make it 

 likely that they should give a name to this day ? 

 Dissenting equally from Mk. Mackenzie AVal- 

 COTT and from T. C. H., I can find no more likely 

 origin of the word than that which Hearne gives 

 in the glossary to his edition oi Rohert of Gloucester, 

 s. v. " Wyttosonetyd." His words are : 



" There are many opinions about the original of the 

 name, all which I forbear noticing, unless it be one not 

 taken notice of by common et3'mologists, but occurs in 

 folio liiij a. of a very rare book printed by VVynken de 

 Worde. . . . the words to our purpose are these : 



" ' ^ In die pentecostes. 



" ' Good men and wymmen this day is called Wytson- 

 day bycause the Holy Ghost brought wytte and wysdom 

 into Cristis disciples, and so by her prechyng after in to 

 all cristendom. Thenne niaye ye understande that many 

 hath wytte, but not W3'sdom. For there ben many that 

 hath wytte to preche well, but there ben few that have 

 wysdom to live well. There be many wj'se prechers and 

 techers, but her lyvyng in no maner thyng after her 

 prechynge. Also there be many that labour to have 

 wytte and connyng, but there ben few travaylleth to 

 come to good lyvynge.' " 



Would some of your philological readers give 

 the name of this feast in the various languages of 

 Europe, as this might enable us to decide upon 

 the derivation of the word in our own language. 



Wm. Denton. 



Anonymous Works (1" S. x. 306.) — I have 

 heard that Violet, or The Danseiise, was written 

 by Sir Edward JBulvver Lytton, Bart. ; and that 

 Nights at Mess, originally published in Black- 

 wood's Magazine, were not written by the late 

 Dr. Maginn, but by the Rev. James White, 

 M. A., subsequently residing in Norfolk or 

 Somerset. Wahrheit. 



" Pence a piece,'' for a penny a piece (2'"' S. ii. 

 6G.) — This phrase may sometimes be heard in 

 Pembrokeshire. I have often been struck with 

 the manifest inaccuracy of the expression in its 

 popular sense ; for, if it means anything, it must 

 mean tivo pence a piece at least, to satisfy the 



grammatical construction ; just as a lease for years, 

 without saying how many, is a lease for two years. 

 " Verba ex captu vulgi imponuntur," and we have 

 here a sample of the loose way in which the captus 

 vulgi often works. J. W. Phillifs. 



Haverfordwest. 



Gypsum, Bones, Guano (2°^ S. i. 374.) — The 

 use of gypsum, as a manure, was very partially 

 known until Mayer, a clergyman of Kupferzell, 

 in the principality of Hohenlohe, in Germany, 

 noticed it about the middle of the last century in 

 a correspondence with Count Von der Schulen- 

 berg, at Hehlen, in the electorate of Hanover, as 

 having been long in use in the neighbourhood of 

 Gottingen as a top-dressing for young clover. 

 Tscheffeli, the zealous Swiss agriculturist, soon 

 after tried experiments with it, and his success 

 introduced it very generally into Switzerland, 

 where it continues to maintain its first reputation. 



In the Dumfries and Galloway Courier for 

 March, 1837, it is stated that around Hull, and in 

 other parts of England, bones have been used as 

 • a manure for a period of nearly thirty years ; and 

 it is added, as a curious fact, that while the Scots 

 have the reputation of being the best farmers in the 

 world, almost all our great improvements are im- 

 ported from the sister country. From Hull the 

 practice travelled to East Lothian, and was for 

 years so stationary that not a single bushel of the 

 new manure was seen in the south of Scotland till 

 1825. 



Guano is supposed to have been used as a ma- 

 nure probably for ages before Peru was visited by 

 the Spaniards. It is spoken of by Herrera in a 

 work published at Madrid in 1601 ; in another 

 work published at Lisbon in 1609. In the time 

 of the Incas there was so much vigilance in guard- 

 ing the sea fowl, that during the rearing season 

 no person was allowed to visit the islands which 

 they frequented, under pain of death, in order 

 that they might not be frightened and driven 

 away from their nests. About the commencement 

 of 1843, guano was discovered on the island of 

 Ichaboe, about two miles and a half from the 

 mainland of Africa. The place soon attracted 

 notice, and by the end of 1844, nearly the whole 

 of the guano had been carried away. 



William Blood. 

 Dublin. 



"Rebukes for Sin" (2°'» S. ii. 30.) — This book 

 was written by the celebrated Nonconformist 

 Thomas Doolittle. John I. Dredge. 



Memorials of former Greatness (2"'' S. i. 405.) — 

 In the parish church of Alnwick, there are also 

 many banners, gloves, and (T think) spears or 

 swords, hung up. Also some gloves and wreaths 

 in the private chapel at Hill Hall, in Essex. 



E. E. Btng. 



