432 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[2nd s. No 100., Nov. 28. '57. 



since a gentleman, who had just returned from 

 Rome, informed me that he bad witnessed the 

 extraordinary spectacle of a large number of rats, 

 after having been dipped into spirits of turpentine 

 and set on fire, being turned loose at the top of 

 the flight of steps which leads from the Vatican (?) 

 to the Plaza below. A great crowd of persons 

 ^as assembled to witness the spectacle, which 

 took place at night ; and I think my informant 

 stated, was customary on the evening of a par- 

 ticular day of the year : the miserable rats, which 

 left the top step of the flight like living balls of 

 fire — amidst the shouts of the populace — arrived 

 at the bottom mere masses of scorched flesh. 



Is this custom still kept up at Rome ? if so, on 

 what day in the year ? Fb. Bbbnt. 



BLingston-upon-Hull. 



^uzvisi. 



MAUNDAY (or MAUNDT ?) THUESDAY. 



What is the correct derivation and spelling of 

 this name for the Thursday in Easter week ? 



Most of the works on the Prayer-Book call it 

 " Dies Mandati," though they are not ajireed as to 

 what the mandate was ; whether to celebrate the 

 Lord's Supper, or to wash the disciples' feet. 

 If the betrayal took place on the Wednesday (the 

 reason generally assigned for the Church marking 

 out Wednesday as a Litany day), it is difficult to 

 see how any mandate should have been given on 

 the Thursday. 



The Penny Cyclopaedia (vol. xv. p. 17.) says 

 that Maundy Thursday is so named from the 

 maunds or baskets in which the royal gifts at 

 Whitehall were formerly contained. It was also 

 called " Shere Thursday," as we read in the " Fes- 

 tival" of 1511 ; because anciently "people would 

 that day shere theyr hedes and clypp theyr berdes, 

 and so make them honest agenst Easterday." 



I recollect too, when a boy, being informed that 

 Tombland fair, at Norwich, held on this day, took 

 its origin from people assembling with maunds or 

 baskets of provisions, &c., which the monks bought 

 for distribution on Easter Day. A particular 

 kind of basket is still called a mand by the Yar- 

 mouth fishermen. And it should be observed 

 that a dole of salt fish formed part of the Royal 

 Maundy. The derivation of Shere or Chare 

 Thursday, as given in The Penny Cydopcedia, is 

 wrong. In Ihre's Lexicon Suio- Goth, is " Skar- 

 toradag, Dies Jovis hebdomadis sanctse," derived 

 from " Sksera purgare." Ihre makes the purifica- 

 tion to have been, either the Church preparing 

 itself by a purer life to celebrate the death of 

 Christ, or from the custom of washing the feet of 

 the poor ; or because Christians then removed the 

 ashes with which they had sprinkled themselves 

 on Ash Wednesday. It is curioxia that he should 



have overlooked the passage in St, John's Gospel, 

 xix. 14., which shows that it was the day of pre- 

 paration for the passover. 



On this day many rustics returning from Tom- 

 bland fair may be observed to carry new hats, 

 not on their heads, but in boxes, &c. They are 

 worn for the first time on Easter Day ; and by so 

 doing, the bearer is secured from any bird's drop- 

 ping its " card" upon him during the ensuing 

 year. Indeed, it is very unlucky not to wear 

 some new article of clothing on Easter Day. 



Notwithstanding the prejudice against sailing 

 on a Friday, I regret to say that most of the plea- 

 sure-boats on the Wensum, Yare, Waveney, and 

 Bure, make their first voyage for the season on 

 Good Friday. E. G. R. 



QUEBIES ON COVENTRY MYSTERIES. 



The two passages given below occur in the 

 Coventry Mysteries (Shaks. Soc, 1841), and are, 

 upon the whole, as tough specimens of the writ- 

 ings of the age in which they were first written 

 as one would wish to meet with. I should be glad 

 to have an explanation, and especially of the 

 words which I have Italicised : — 



" I ryde on my rowel rt/che in my regne, . 

 Rybbys fFul redd with rape xal I sende ; 

 Popetys and paphawkes I xal puttj'n in peyne, 

 With my apere prevyn, pychyn, and to-pende. 

 The gowys with gold crownys gete thei nevyr ageyn, 



To seke tho sottys sondA'S xal I sende ; 

 Do howlott hoivtyn hoherd and heyn, 



Whan her barnys blede undj'r credyl bende ; 

 Sharply I xal hem shende." 



Slaughter of the Innocents, p. 179. 



" Schewyth on your shulderes scheld3's and schaftj^s, 

 Shapyht amonge schel chowthys ashyrlyng shray ; 

 Doth rowncys rennyu with rakynge raftys 



Tyl rybbys be to rent with a reed ray." — Ibid. p. 180. 



J. Eastwood. 



" The City of Hexham." —W\\\ any of your 

 correspondents express their opinion respecting 

 the right of Hexham, in Northumberland, to the 

 title and dignity of " City .?" For a century and 

 a half it was (in Saxon times) the seat of a bishop- 

 rick, presided over by twelve bishops in succes- 

 sion. When the see was broken up by the incur- 

 sions of the Danes, it was, after various vicissitudes, 

 finally revived at Durham, which is of course now 

 called a city. In the times of the heptarchy, Hex- 

 ham would no doubt rank as a city, not only be- 

 cause of its being the seat of the bishop, but also 

 on account of its being the capital of Bernicia, one 

 of the two provinces into which the kingdom of 

 Northumbria was divided. Deira, whose capital 

 was York, was the other province. Hexham was 

 also the centre of a regality and county palatinate, 



