200 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Sept. 15. 1855. 



THE MABQUIS OP LANSDOWNE AND SYMPATHY 

 WITH LITERARY TAIiENT. 



" The Marquis of Lansdowne being struck with a short 

 poem, ' So it come,' by Frances Browne, which appeared 

 in the AthencEum, applied for information respecting the 

 author ; and on learning that she had been long beset by 

 difliculties, placed 100/. at her disposal, which was ac- 

 cepted in the spirit in which it was offered." — The 

 Guardian, Sept. 5. 



On reading the above paragraph I was re- 

 minded of a circumstance not less deserving of 

 honourable record, that occurred twenty-two years 

 a^o, on an occasion when the noble marquis ap- 

 plied to me, then in the foreign house of Treuttel 

 and Wurtz, the publishers of the Foreign Qtmr- 

 terly Review, — for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 author of an article in the number just then pub- 

 lished of that Review — an article with which his 

 lordship informed me he had been " so struck" — 

 his own words — that he was desirous of becoming 

 acquainted with the writer of it. Being deh'ghted 

 by the occurrence of such an unexpected piece of 

 good fortune to a young Irishman with whom I 

 had recently become acquainted, and whom I had 

 introduced to the editor of the Review (the late 

 Mr. Cochrane, of the London Library) — I in- 

 formed his lordship that the article in question 

 was written by a ^Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Cooke 

 Taylor, a literary man who had recently come to 

 London from Trinity College, Dublin ; and who 

 was then chiefly occupied in writing for the book- 

 sellers. His lordship added that he had some 

 works in his library, which he thought would in- 

 terest Mr. Taylor, whom he would be glad to see 

 any morning at Lansdowne House. I lost no 

 time in acquainting Mr. Taylor with this striking 

 tribute to the merits of his communication from a 

 nobleman of such distinguished discernment of 

 literary talent and of sympathy for its gifted pos- 

 sessors. The article which attracted Lord Lans- 

 downe's attention in so remarkable a manner, was 

 (if my memory does not deceive me), " On Mo- 

 hammed and Mohammedanism" {F. Q.R. No. 23., 

 1833) — a subject on which Dr. Taylor after- 

 wards wrote a distinct work. The marquis con- 

 tinued Dr. Taylor's friend and patron to the last; 

 having appointed him, as I was informed, but a 

 short time before his early and lamented death, 

 to a lucrative post on the Irish Statistical Com- 

 mission — a post for which he had given many 

 proofs of fitness, not the least of which was by an 

 article in the Foreign Quarterly, on the " Objects 

 ami Advantages of Statistical Science." (Vol. xvi. 

 p. 205.) Dr. T.'s first communication to that 

 Keview was on Niebuhr's new edition of the By- 

 zantine Historians, a subject selected by himself 

 as his coup d'essai, and, in his treatment of it, 

 affoiding evidence of such scholarship and ability 

 as convinced the editor that Dr. T. would prove a 

 most valuable contributor. John Macbay. 



No. 307.] 



FOLK LORE. 



Scottish Folk Lore. — I wish to make a note of 

 the following bits of "folk lore," still current in 

 this district, and that have come unasked before 

 me, and will be heard. That they are religiously 

 believed in, admits of no manner of doubt. 



Salt. — I offered to help an old Highland lady 

 at dinner one day to some salt from the " cellar," 

 which stood much nearer to me than to her ; she 

 gravely put back my hand, and drew away her 

 plate, saying at the same time, with a kind of 

 shudder, between her teeth : 



" Help me to saut ! 

 Help me to sorrow!" 



Sneezing. — It is a thing known, and fixed as 

 the eternal fates in the minds of all douce nurses, 

 and especially all "howdies" whatsoever, that a 

 new-born child is in the fairy spells until it 

 sneezes; then all danger is past. I once overheard 

 an old and most reverend- looking dame, of great 

 experience in howdie-craft, crooning over a new- 

 born child ; and then watching it intently, and in 

 silence, for nearly a minute, she said, taking 

 a huge pinch of snuff, "Och! oich ! No yet — 

 no yet." Suddenly the youngster exploded in 

 a startling manner into a tremendous sneeze; 

 when the old lady suddenly bent down, and, as 

 far as I could see, drew her forefinger across the 

 brows of the child, very much as if making the 

 sign of the cross (although, as a strict Calvinist, 

 she would have been scandalised at the idea), and 

 joyfully exclaimed, " God sain the bairn, it's no 

 a warlock!'^ Even people of education I have 

 heard say, and maintain stoutly, that no idiot ever 

 sneezed or could sneeze ! 



Marriage Superstition. — The sister of an old 

 servant was shortly since married to a sailor. I 

 asked Katie if the bridal party had gone down the 

 water for a pleasure sail. She answered me at 

 once, looking quite flurried : " Losh, no, Sir ! that 

 would na be canny, ye ken ; we gaed up the 

 water." She could give me no reasons, but abun- 

 dant examples of couples who had impiously dis- 

 regarded the custom, and had, in Katie's phrase- 

 ology, "gane aw wrang" in consequence. In 

 some instances the bride had come to her death ; 

 and in one, both bride, bridegroom, and two 

 bridesmaids were drowned. What can be the 

 origin of this most singular superstition ? 



]\Iy old friend the "herd" tells me, that if a sheep 

 drag past a heather bush, and leave on it a portion 

 of its wool, that bush must die with the year and 

 day. What is the meaning of such a belief ? I 

 have not myself noticed the fact at all. C. D. A. 



Hampshire Folk Lore. — It is a common saying 

 that the bees are idle or unfortunate at their 

 work whenever there are wars ; a very curious 



