258 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2ud s. No 91.^ gKpT. 2G. '57. 



presides over battle, and can alone give victory ; 

 and that the sword and the spear are powerless 

 without his blessing. And thus the Church prays 

 upon these colours the benediction of Heaven, that 

 the sight of them may animate the combatant, and 

 support the wounded and dying warrior; that 

 they may be ensigns of victory and pledges of 

 divine protection. ' F. C. H. 



Suspended Animation (2°'^ S. iii. 286.) — Under 

 Aug. 3, 1837, Raikes, in his Journal, mentions the 

 horrible death of the Cardinal Somaglia, who re- 

 covered from his trance for one moment to put 

 away the surgeon's knife, which had begun the 

 preparatory incision before embalming, and then 

 died in agony. Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



Hev. Alex. Lauder (2°^ S. iv. 151.) — In my list 

 of ministers of Berwiclsshire, I find this person 

 was minister of Merdington in 1698, and he was 

 alive in 1719. M. G. F. 



St. Isaac (2°'' S. iv. 190.)— The Greeks honour 

 three saints of the name of Isaac. One a con- 

 fessor, on May 30 ; another, bishop of Beth-Se- 

 leucia, martyred in Persia with St. Sapor, whose 

 feast is on November 30 : and the most celebrated 

 St. Isaac, Archimandrite of Dalmatia, who pre- 

 dicted the death of the Emperor Valens. He 

 died in the middle of the fifth century, and his 

 feast in the Greek calendar is on August 3. It is 

 probably to this last St. Isaac that the cathedral 

 at St. Petersburg is dedicated. F. C. H. 



West-country " Coh" (2°'^ S. iv. 65.) —Devon- 

 shire is famed for its coh walls, — cob, so called, 

 being the materials with which nine-tenths of our 

 rural dwellings and garden walls are constructed. 



Now this cob-earth, as it is commonly called, 

 consists of clay, alum, and silica ; and is found 

 well mixed together in many localities. And this 

 loam, or cob-earth, moistened with water, and well 

 mixed with barley-straw, which is well trodden 

 into it, is placed by the cob-masons (a separate 

 branch of the masonic trade) on a foundation of 

 stone- work from 3 feet high or more, to the height 

 of 4 or 5 feet above it, for the first layer, or, as it 

 is here termed, rase ; which he treads down as it 

 advances, and keeps regular on each side, without 

 any boards, as Mr. Boys represents ; and this rase 

 is left to become dry and hard (having loose straw 

 on the top, if the weather is wet) ; and when suf- 

 ficiently dry, it is pared smooth on each side, and 

 another layer or rase is put on, and so on till the 

 walls are of the intended height ; some pieces of 

 strong wood being placed on it lengthways, where 

 the door or windows are to be cut out. Now 

 Chappie's theory, of deriving cob from the British 

 chawp (Ictus), from /cotttoj, is far-fetched ; but 

 Me. Bors's Spanish is farther, and we are not a 

 bit nearer the derivation of cob. Now we have 



cob used in a variety of ways in Devonshire lingo. 

 There is the old gnarled oak, on the old mail 

 coach road, at the top of Ilaldon Hill, known as 

 the Cobbed Oak. Then we have the squire's neat 

 little horse, — strong, round, and active, — called 

 a cob. Then we have coZ»-nails for shoes, and a 

 cobler to use them. Then one apprentice boy 

 cobs another with his knuckles ; and a rough and 

 knotted piece of timber is cobbed. Then last year, 

 at Dawlish, there were cwi-herrings, small fish, 

 carried way by cart-loads for manure. There is 

 a cob swan (Cygnus), and cobby, (vegetus viridus,) 

 Cobweb, and the Sea Cob, at Lyme ! 



Wm. CoLLYiSS. 



Haldon House, Exeter. 



" Teens" (2"^ S. iv. 208.)— Miss in her Teens 

 is politely informed, that she began her " teens " 

 after completing her twelfth year, and will end 

 them with her nineteenth. This is the common 

 meaning : but the term may have some pointed 

 reference to sad experience in many a tender 

 heart — of the other sex ; for teen is an old word, 

 from the Anglo-Saxon teon, and means, to kindle, 

 to provoke, to afflict, to vex. But the term applies 

 to both sexes : — 



" Our author would excuse these youthful scenes, 

 Begotteu at his entrance in his teens ; 

 Some childish fancies may approve the toy, 

 Some like the muse the more for being a boy." 



Mr. Over Forty. 



Human Ear-wax (2"'^ S. I v. 208.) — In answer 

 to J. P., the " nature " of this secretion may be 

 found stated in any of the chemical treatises ; but 

 it must be looked out under the name of Cerumen. 

 Dr. Thomson {Cycl. of Chemistry) says, "it ap- 

 pears to consist of stearine, oleine, otine, yellow 

 matter soluble in water, uncoagulated albumen, 

 coagulated albumen, lactates of lime, and potash 

 or soda." What the " yellow matter " may be is 

 unknown ; but certainly the ingredients seem to- 

 tally inadequate for the purpose alleged — the 

 intoxication of the elephants of Lucknow. If it 

 be a fact, it must be added to the three things 

 which were wonderful to Solomon, and the fourth 

 which he said he knew not — although all the four 

 be very clear (as we think) to our modern intel- 

 ligence. (Prov. XXX. 18.) Andrew Steinmetz. 



Hills of Shilstone: Lady Chichester (2"-^ S. iv. 

 210.) — Your correspondent Alfred T. Lee 

 writes, " Sir Robert Chichester marrieil, secondly, 



Mary, dau. of Hill, Esq., of Shilston." 



Where is the pedigree of the Hills of Shilstone to 

 be found ? It is required chiefly to prove or dis- 

 prove the connexion of the famous Abigail Hill 

 with that family. Henry D'Avenky. 



Family of Ximenes (2°^ S. iv. 190.) — I should 

 think that Lieut.-Col. Ilanmer (formerly M.P. 

 for Aylesbury), who succeeded to Bear Ash, after 



