410 



KOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2nd s. NO 47., Nov. 22. '5G. 



'^'^ Horse- Godmother." — In the north of Eng- 

 land a coarse, masculine woman is called a " horse- 

 •jodmother." What can be the origin of this 

 singular combination ? Henkt T. Riley. 



" The Woolgatherer." — Can any of your readers 

 inform me who wrote The Woolgatherer, a series 

 of essays which appeared in the Athenceum for 

 1828? R.J. 



Bellerophon, Ovid, — It is a singular fact that, 

 though mentioned by Homer, the name of Belle- 

 rophon is 7iever once introduced by Ovid into the 

 Metamorphoses, or any other of his works. By 

 most of the poets the possession of the talaria, or 

 winged sandals, is ascribed to Perseus, while Bel- 

 lerophon mounts the winged Pegasus in his com- 

 bat with the Chimaira. Ovid seems to attribute 

 the use of both to Perseus, and would almost 

 appear to have considered him as the same per- 

 sonage with Bellerophon. See the Metamorphoses, 

 b. IV. 11. 665-6. and 1. 786. ; and the Amores, b. iii. 

 el. xii. 1. 24. Can any of your readers give a 

 better explanation of this circumstance ? 



Henry T. Riley. 



Scotch Pedigrees. — I shall esteem it a very 

 great favour if any of your numerous readers will 

 inform me how a Scotch pedigree can best be 

 traced, before the date of the earliest parochial 

 registers, i.e. from about 1400 to 1600. 



Sigma. Theta. 



Munich Tune. — Will Dr. Gatjntlett kindly 

 give us the origin of the tune called "Munich," a 

 long metre in the tunes published by him for the 

 Church Hymnal ? I am told it is to be found in 

 some very old selections ; but it is for the greater 

 part note for note with Meyerbeer's famous prayer 

 in the Huguenots. G. W. 



'■'■ First of March.'' — Can any of your readers 

 inform me who is the author of the poem called 

 "First of March," beginning — 



" The bud is in the bough, 

 And the leaf is in the bud. 

 And the earth is beginning now 

 In her veins to feel the blood." 



I have heard it, and seen it, attributed to Mrs. 

 Ilemans : the friend who favoured me with a copy 

 took it from a local newspaper — the Leeds Mer- 

 cury — several years ago, where it had her name 

 attached ; but I cannot find it in the edition of her 

 Works published by the Messrs. Blackwood, of 

 Edinburgh : who said, moreover, when asked, that 

 it was not hers. A. Walker. 



Bradford. 



Regatta. — What is the origin of the word 

 " Regatta ? " I see it is an Italian word, but I 

 wish to know where regattas were first held, and 

 their connection with royally. N. G. T. 



Cricket. — Can any of your readers find early 

 mention of the game of cricket ? It was played 

 at Eton in Horace Walpole's time. Can any one 

 enlighten us as to the other public schools ? I 

 have traced the game to 1685, in Sir E. Phillips. 

 I have also found it in Swift's John Bull. 



The Autiiob op "The Cricket Field." 



First Chimney in England. — What is the date 

 of the first chimney in England ? 



A. Holt White. 



Lindjield. — In Camden's Britannia by Gough 

 (Sussex), under this parish there is this entry : 

 " Where Holland says there was once a small 

 monastery." Can any of yOur readers supply the 

 reference, and give any further account of this 

 monastery, of which there is no trace in Dugdale ? 

 But there is a wood called Nunnery AVood, near 

 the village. Memor. 



[The reference is to Camden's Britain, translated by 

 Philemon Holland, fol., 1610, p. 313.] 



French Author and the Rahbinical Writers. — 

 In a MS. Sermon, which, among many others, I 

 have inherited, the following passage occurs : 



" A learned French author says, that the Rabbinical 

 writers would not write pork or liell, but signified them 

 by saying that he who eats sometlimg will be sent sotne- 

 ivhere ; yet they had no scruple to describe at great length 

 the ceremonies used in the worship of Baal-Peor." 



I shall be obliged by reference to the "learned 

 French author," or the original rabbis. The for- 

 mer must be as remote as the early part of the 

 last century ; as the sermon's Jirst endorsement 

 of the places at which it has been preached is, 

 " Calne, 2"^ S. post Trin., 17:34." E. Mooee. 



The Family of Ranhy. — In Hogarth's Works 

 there is an etching of Mr. Ranby's house at Chis- 

 wick, the mansion now occupied by Mr. Tuke. 

 Was this the Mr. Ran by Avho was surgeon to 

 George II. ? When did this family leave Chis- 

 wick ; and if not extinct, where is it now located ? 



Henry T. Riley. 



An Acoustic Query. — What is the greatest 

 known distance at which the human voice has 

 been distinctly heard ? Dr. Jamieson is some- 

 where said to have heard evei'y word of a sermon 

 preached two miles off"! I have listened to the 

 voice of the village " ranter" at half i\\9.t distance ; 

 but all that was appreciable of his stentorian 

 efforts was a series of hoarse inarticulate vihra- 

 tions, " vox et pra^terea nihil." Whether the 

 "sermon" alluded to was a specimen of such 

 village-green oratory, and whether those powers 

 of elocution were tested over land or water sur- 

 face, I know not. Be this as it may, the atmo- 

 spheric ynedia must have been peculiarly favour- 

 able lor such an experiment ; of course, in asking 

 for the maximum, distance, I mean that only at 



