382 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2ndg. N0 46., Nov. 15. '56. 



that its origin is to be found in the celebrated 

 " Sangreal," an admirable Note on which appears 

 in the first volume of " N. & Q." 



I must briefly give the substance of this Note : 

 — in Scott's Marmion, introduction to canto first, 

 are these lines : 



" A sinful man and unconfessed, 

 He sought the Sangreal's holy quest." 

 To this is appended a note, referring to the my- 

 thic Arthur and his round table. He relates, that 

 on one occasion, when this prince and his knights 

 were carousing, the Sangreal, the identical vessel 

 out of which the last passover was eaten, and 

 which had been long concealed from human eyes, 

 suddenly appeared to the assembled guests. Sis- 

 mondi. Lit. South of Europe, gives the parti- 

 culars of this Provencal legend : in which the 

 Sangreal is mentioned as the cup out of which the 

 Messiah drank at his crucifixion, so called from 

 sanguis realis. 



Now my grounds for suspecting that Sangaree 

 may have originated in the Sangreal are as 

 follow : — 



1. The language of the Troubadours tended, in 

 its decay, rather to Spain than to France. In the 

 former country, the absurd legends of the age 

 found, in the genius of the people, a soil better 

 calculated to obtain a lasting existence than it 

 could elsewhere. 



That the word Sangaree has come from Spain 

 to the West Indies is very probable, from the 

 fact that it does not appear in any French dic- 

 tionary (known to me), though it does in those 

 of the Spanish language. The profane habit of 

 the Spanish people of mixing sacred matters with 

 things common, suggests the probability of the 

 friendly cup of hospitality receiving this appel- 

 lation. 



Aged persons of intelligence in the West Indies 

 inform me, that in the golden age of their lands, 

 it was customary, after breakfast, to place on the 

 sideboard a large cup (what a temptation to use 

 the word chalice?), filled with this spiced wine, 

 for each person to drink bVe Ovixhs eirte ; and that 

 the vessel was commonly called the Sangaree 

 bowl. 



Sully, in his Memoirs, makes mention of a 

 favourite oath or exclamation of Henry IV. of 

 France, namely, "ventre St. Grisr" the origin or 

 meaning of the phrase was, I believe (I quote 

 from memory), unknown to Sully. When we call 

 to mind that Henry's kingdom of Nav.irre was 

 itself the seat of the Troubadours, and that a 

 monarch of Navarre was one of this body, it is 

 most probable that Henry was well acquainted 

 with their writings, and that his St. Gris was no 

 other than the St. Greal. The initial word ventre 

 puzzles me, but it may refer to the obese dimen- 

 sions of the vessel. Mr. Breen could, no doubt, 

 throw some light on this matter. J. P. 



CHURCHING PLACE. 



In most parishes women to be churched sit in 

 their own pews. In other places there is a pew 

 called the churching-pew ; in others, an open seat 

 called the churching-seat ; and in some few places 

 in the West of England, as at Dodington, near 

 Bridgewater, the woman has a seat near the Com- 

 munion Table. 



The following rubrics occur in the Liturgies : 



1549. " The woman shall come into the church, and 

 there shall kneel down in some convenient place nigh 

 unto the quire door." 



1552, 1559, 1604. " The woman shall come into the 

 church, and then shall kneel down in some convenient 

 place nigh unto the place where the table standeth." 



1662. "The woman, at the usual time after her dc- 

 liverj'-, shall come into the church decently apparelled, 

 and there shall kneel down in some convenient place as 

 hath been accustomed, or as the ordinary shall direct." 



The Scottish Service-book of 1637 has the 

 second of these rubrics, but styling " the table " 

 " the Lord's Table." 



It appears from a Manuale in tisum Sarum (a 

 book of the offices), now in the library of the 

 Ptev. E. B. Warren, the rector of St. Mary's, Marl- 

 borough, that before the Protestant Reformation, 

 the churching of women took place in the church 

 porch, as the rubric states it to be, " ante ostium 

 ecclesie" [before the church door]. And at its 

 conclusion is the following rubric : 



" Tunc aspergant mulierem aqua benedicta : deinde in- 

 ducat earn sacerdos per manum dexteram in ecclesiam, 

 dicens," [Then they sprinkle the woman with holy 

 water: afterwards the priest leads her by the right 

 hariU into the church, saj-ing], " Ingredere in templum 

 Dei vt habeas vitam eternam : et viuas in secula secu- 

 lorum. Amen." [Enter into the temple of God,ij that 

 thou mayest have eternal life: and live for ever and 

 ever. Amen. ] 



It is worthy of observation, that in the same 

 book, that part of the marriage service which is 

 now directed to be performed " in the body of 

 the church," is there directed to be performed 

 " ante ostium ecclesie" [before the church door] ; 

 and that instead of the present rubric before the 

 128th Psalm, as to "going to the Lord's table," 

 the direction is " Hie intrent ecclesiam vsq. ad 

 gradum altaris." [Here they enter the church up 

 to the step of the altar.] 



I would suggest that "N. & Q." would have 

 great additional value, if the contributors of Notes 

 (Queries do not signify) would give their names. 



In a late Number (p. 333.) some most curious 

 books are referred to, as " in ray possession," and 

 the writer signs by initials. How much better if 

 he gave his name. And information, with the 

 name of a good antiquary attached to it, can be 

 quoted in other works, as " it is stated by Mr. 

 (ireaves," or " Mr. Bernhard Smith," and the 

 like. F. A. Carrington. 



