298 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Snd S. No 93., QcT. 10. '57. 



The Devil and Church Building (2"'> S. iv. 144.) 



— A similar legend to that related by your corre- 

 spondent, Sholto Macduff, with respect to the 

 church of St. Brelade in Jersey is also preserved 

 in the sister island of Guernsey, and is given as a 

 reason for the very inconvenient position of the 

 church of S*® Marie du Castel on the very verge of 

 a large and populous parish. The church is said 

 to occupy the site of a castle which, long before the 

 conquest of England by the Normans, was the abode 

 of a piratical chief known by tradition as " le grand 

 Geffroy " or " le grand SarrazinV A field almost 

 in the centre of the parish, called " les Tuzets" is 

 pointed out as the spot originally fixed on for the 

 church, and to which the materials for its con- 

 struction were brought. Whatever was collected 

 there during the day was found next morning to 

 have disappeared, and to have been removed by 

 unseen hands to the hill where the church now 

 stands. The fairies are, in this case, generally ac- 

 cused of being the agents, though some say it was 

 the work of angels. It is worthy of remark that 

 there are other spots in the island bearing the 

 name of " les Tuzets" where there are indications 

 of cromlechs having formerly existed. One of the 

 largest and most perfect cromlechs in the island 

 is called " la pierre du Tus." In Brittany one of 

 the names of the dwarfs who are supposed to 

 haunt the dolmens or cromlechs is " Duz " or 

 " Duzik" and S. Augustin (De Civitate Deif lib. 

 iv. c. 23.) speaks of certain " Daemones quos 

 Duscios Galli nuncupant." If the " Deuce " had 

 already possession of the ground, it is easy to con- 

 ceive that he would not yield it up without a 

 struggle. Edgar MacCclloch. 



Guernsey. 



Examination by Torture lawful (2""* S. iv. 129.) 



— The reader will find the following discretionary 

 power given to the jailor to put his prisoner to 

 torture recorded in the Proceedings of the Privy 

 Council of England, vol. vii. p. 83., dated, Windsor, 

 16 Nov. 32nd Hen. VIII., 1540 : 



" Thomas Thwayts was sent to the towre of London by 

 c'tain of the garde w' a Ire to the Lieutenant declaring 

 his confession and comaundyng him that in cace he 

 woold stande stil in denyal to showe of whom he had herd 

 the things he confessed, he shuld gyve him a stretche or 

 twoo at his discrecon upon the brake." 



Tiiwayts appears to have been a servant of one 

 of the king's pages, and was accused by another 

 servant of having spoken traitorous words against 

 his Majesty. We find him, however, subsequently 

 dismissed, " having a good lesson given him to 

 use his tongue with more discretion hereafter." 



R. C. 



Cork. 



Warping (2"^ S. iv. 113.) — Mb. Buckton is 

 probably more familiar with the " silver Trent " 

 at Burton-upon-Trent, than with its muddy 



stream at Burton-upon-Stather. From the latter 

 place to Gainsborough, for many miles, both sides 

 of the river have been the means of thousands of 

 acres of land coming under the warping process. 

 Immense crops of wheat and potatoes are raised 

 on this land, which always fetches the highest 

 prices. White clover springs up spontaneously 

 on it. W. H. Lammin. 



Fulham. 



Ringsend (2°'' S. ii. 315.) — Ringsend was so 

 called for generations before " old Jemmy Walsh " 

 was born. His derivation, fanciful as it is, I 

 could almost imagine was given to try how far 

 Irish wit could impose on English credulity. Sir 

 John Rogerson, by the way, was Lord Mayor of 

 Dublin in 1693-4. Lascelles, in Liber Minorum, 

 8fc., part V. p. 142., writes as follows : 



" Ringsend or Rinksen \^forsan a northern word signify- 

 ing a sewer, which the river Dodder is to that part of the 

 count}'.] " 



Y. S. M. 



Spiders and Irish Oak (2"'^ S. iv. 208.)— A 

 writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 

 1771, vol. xli. p. 251., refutes the following errors ; 

 asserting . . . that the bite of the spider is not 

 venomous, that it is found in Ireland too plenti- 

 fully, that it has no dislike to fixing its web on Irish 

 oak, and that it has no antipathy to the toad," &c. 

 Brande's Pop. Antiq. (ed. 1842), vol. iii. p. 206. 



J. Eastwood. 



The common saying at Winchester is that no 

 spider will hang its web on the roof of Irish oak 

 in the chapel or cloisters : and it holds good. 

 Chesnut is said to possess the same virtue. 



Mackenzie Walcott, M.A. 



It is a common saying, and I believe a fact, 

 that chesnut wood will not harbour spiders ; for 

 that reason the cloisters of New College are roofed 

 with chesnut, and I fancy the roof of Christ 

 Church is said at the present day to be of the 

 same material. M. W. C, B.A. 



Alnwick. 



Spider-eating (2"'^ S. ill. 206.) — Perhaps 

 D'Israeli had in his mind the following lines by 

 Peter Pindar : 



" How early Genius shows itself at times, 

 Thus Pope, the prince of poets, lisped in rlij'mes, 

 And our Sir Joshua Banks, most strange to utter, 

 To whom each cockroach -eater is a fool, 

 Did, when a very little boy at school. 

 Eat spiders, spread upon his bread and butter." 



UnedA; 

 Philadelphia. 



Sense of Pre- Existence (2°'^ S. iii. 50. 132. ; iv. 

 234.) — The question of the disciples, in the case 

 of the man born blind (St. John, ix. 2.), does not 

 necessarily imply that they had imbibed the error 

 of some of the Pharisees, of a transmigration of 



