208 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Sept. 15. 1855. 



been composed by himself. Can any reader of 

 '* N. & Q." explain the second line ? 



" London bred me, Westminster fed me, 



Cambridge sped me. My sister wed me. 



Study taught me, Living sought me, 



Learning brought me, Kendal caught me. 

 Labour pressed me, Sickness distressed me. 



Death oppressed me. The grave possessed me, 



God first gave me, Christ did save me. 



Earth did crave me, and Heaven would have me." 

 John o' the Ford. 

 [The passage seems to imply that his wife was pro- 

 cared by the intervention of his sister.] 



10itpliti* 



WILL o' THE WISP, JACK-A- LANTERN, IGNIS 

 FATUUS, CORPSE-CANDLES, ETC. 



(Vol. Xii., p. 167.) 



By a dozen of names these wild-fire phenomena 

 are very common in all boggy lands, and were 

 much more so before the agricultural science of 

 drainage was carried to such an extent. I have 

 seen them often ; but the most curious example 

 occurred to a friend of mine whose country resi- 

 dence was situated within sight of a low swampy 

 track of meadow. It was exactly at this season of 

 the year (in September) that the household were 

 startled, and the superstitious affrighted by the 

 appearance of strange waving and wandering 

 lights in the locality alluded to, commencing near 

 midnight and lasting for several hours. Their 

 rnotion was very eccentric, and they traversed the 

 district in every direction, up and down, back- 

 wards and forwards. As day approached they 

 vanished, leaving the observers to account as well 

 as they could for the uniisual nightly visitation. 

 At length some, bolder than the rest, having ex- 

 aniined the ground by daylight, and discovered 

 neither pitfall nor sinking bog, resolved on going 

 to the spot and ascertaining the nature of the 

 illusion. They went accordingly, noiselessly and 

 secretly, and followed up the dancing lights till 

 they came upon them; and lo! they were lanterns 

 tied by collars to the necks of small well- trained 

 setters, and in the service of poachers, with nets, 

 who were thus pursuing their vocation and catch- 

 ing almost every head of game on the estate. So 

 much for a particular Puck-affair, W. J. 



^ About twenty years since, while travelling one 

 night in the south of Ireland, about four miles 

 from Killarney, on passing some marshy ground 

 I distinctly saw a light flitting about, vanishing 

 at intervals, and appearing again. My driver 

 noticed the same, and we stopped and observed it 

 for near half an hour. If was about the first of 

 September, nine o'clock at night, and the air very 

 No. 307.] 



still. The light appeared to be about from fifty 

 to one hundred yards from us. I was told that 

 such an appearance was commonly seen in marshy 

 ground after a warm day, and that the country 

 people called it " Jack o' the lantern." Of course 

 it can be easily accounted for. Last year I passed 

 the same spot by day, and saw that a large drain 

 had been made through the marsh, consequently 

 I expect my friend " Jack " has vanished with his 

 lantern to some more genial locality. 



Simon Ward. 



A friend informs me he has frequently seen it in 

 a marsh near the town of Stettin in Germany, and 

 has often staid, while passing the place with other 

 persons, to witness Its movements. He describes 

 it as like a " good-sized candle flame," constantly 

 appearing and disappearing. Sometimes a dozen 

 or more are visible at one time. Although they 

 are very common, some people feel a little super- 

 stitious, and do not pass that place at night. 



H. W. D. 



W. may be informed that this light has been 

 seen by me (to the best of my recollection, more 

 than once) dancing over some boggy ground on 

 Bedford Moor, near Torrington, in the north of 

 Devon. J. Sansom. 



EXECtlTORS OP WILLS. 



(Vol. xii., p. 124.) 



Leguleius asks when executors were first in- 

 stituted ? And he remarks, they were, it appears, 

 quite unknown to the Roman law. 



Perhaps they had their beginning in ancient 

 Greece, for the man who was privileged to make 

 a will signed it before witnesses (who were some- 

 times magistrates and arcbons), and then placed 

 it in the hands of trustees called Epirneletai, who 

 were obliged to see it performed. See Arch- 

 bishop Potter's Antiquities, by Dunbar, ii. 339. 

 Isa;us seems to be his authority, but I have not 

 the references. The tTri/xeATjral were any persons 

 who were charged with care, guardianship, or per- 

 formance, — the original apparently of executors 

 in modern time. It was, we know, the custom 

 among the Romans for a man to leave his fortune 

 to a friend on some executory trust. The Hceres 

 Fiduciarius seems to have corresponded to an 

 executor. A testator's wishes, too, are often said 

 to be addressed ad fidei Commissarios. The ap- 

 pointment of an Heres, whom we may call execu- 

 tor in some respects, was essential to the validity 

 of a will among the Romans. " It was," as Dr. 

 Taylor remarks in his Elements of Civil Law 

 (535.), " a form so necessary, that practice at least, 

 if not law, required it as the principal ingredient." 



