2nd s. N" 98., Nov. 14. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



385 



The old man was "tall and ancient, his hair 

 as white as wool," and " curled up." lie had a 

 broad white beard, a fresh complexion, and "wore 

 a fashionable hat," with a narrow band. His coat 

 and hose were purple, his stockings white. He 

 had on a pair of new black shoes, tied with purple 

 ribands. He wore no gloves, but his hands were 

 as white as snow. And though it rained when he 

 entered the house, and had rained all day, he had 

 not a spot of wet or dirt on him. 



" This being noised abroad divers ministers met 

 together at Ham ford to consider and consult about 

 it ; and for many reasons were induced to believe 

 that this cure was wrought by the ministry of a 

 good angel." 



The narrative is curious. I do not know whe- 

 ther any other account of it exists, except this 

 one in Clark's Mirrour. Perhaps it may be worth 

 preserving in " N. & Q." Hubeet Bowbb. 



A Family supported by Eagles, — • Luckombe, in 

 his Tour through Ireland in 1779, p. 270., says : 



"In most of these mountains (the Mac Giliycuddj's 

 Reeks in Kerry) are numbers of eagles and other rapa- 

 cious birds. I have been assured, that some years ago a 

 certain poor man in this part of the country discovered 

 one of their nests, and that by clipping the wings of the 

 eaglets, and fixing collars of leather about their throats, 

 which prevented them from swallowing, he daily found 

 store of good provisions in the nest, such as various kinds 

 of excellent fish, wild-fowl, rabbits, and hares, which the 

 old ones constantly brought to their young. And thus 

 the man and his children were well supported during an 

 hard summer, by only giving the garbish to the eaglets 

 to keep them alive," 



R. C. 



Cork. 



Heroes and Potatoes. — I have always been ac- 

 customed to think of a single man of fame as a 

 hero, and a single root as a potatoe. A casual re- 

 mark induced me to look at modern dictionaries, 

 &c., and I find that the final e is as completely 

 severed from the singular root as from the singu- 

 lar man. On looking up the titles of books from 

 Watt, &c., I find that the man lost his e nearly, 

 if not quite, before Queen Anne died : but the 

 root kept it, quite firmly, till past 1816. We 

 have no laws of spelling, so I am not obliged to 

 conform. The thing is worth a note, as showing 

 that the clipping of words is not always wear and 

 tear : the every-day kitchen word kept itself whole 

 and sound for more than a century after the 

 scholars had docked the uncommon word. M. 



A curious Superstition productive of good Re- 

 sults. — Captain Johnson, of the Norwegian barque 

 " Ellen," which fortunately picked up forty-nine 

 of the passengers and crew of " The Central 

 America," after the steamer had sunk, arrived in 



New York on the 20th of September, and made 

 the following singular statement : — 



" Just before six o'clock on the afternoon of September 

 12th, I was standing on thequarter-deck, with two others 

 of the crew on the deck at the same time, besides the man 

 at the helm. Suddenly a bird flew around me, first grazing 

 my right shoulder. Afterwards it flew around the vessel, 

 then it again commenced to fly around my head. It soon 

 flew at my face, when I caught hold of it, and made him a 

 prisoner. The bird is unlike any bird I ever saw, nor do 

 I know its name. The colour of its featlier was a dark 

 iron grey ; its body was a foot and a half in length, with 

 wings tliree and a half feet from tip to tip. It had a beak 

 full eight inches long, and sort of teetli like a small hand- 

 saw. In capturing this bird it gave me a good bite on 

 my right thumb : two of the crew who assisted in t^'ing 

 its legs were also bitten. As it strove to bite everybody, I 

 had its head afterwards cut off, and the body thrown 

 overboard. 



" When the bird flew to the ship the barque w^as going 

 a little north of north-east. I regarded the appearance 

 of the bird as an omen, and an indication to me that I must 

 change my course. I accordingly headed to the eastward 

 direct. I should not have deviated from my course, had not 

 the bird visited the ship, and had it not been for this change 

 of course, I should not have fallen in with the forty-nine pas- 

 sengers, whom I fortunately saved from certain death." 



w.w. 



Malta. 



Washington a French Marshal. ■. — 



" It is not generally known to Washington's biogra- 

 phers that he was a Marshal of France; yet the fact 

 seems to be very certainly established by a letter from 

 Geo. W. Parke Custis, who says that — 



" ' When, in 1781, Colonel Laurens went to France as 

 special ambassador, a diificulty arose between him and 

 the French ministry, as to the command of the combined 

 armies in America. Our heroic Laurens said : " Our chief 

 must command ; it is our cause, and the battle is on our 

 soil." " C'est impossible," exclaimed the Frenchman ; 

 " by the etiquette of the French service, the Count de 

 Rochambeau, being an old lieutenant-general, can only 

 be commanded by the king in person, or a Mareschal de 

 France." " Then," exclaimed Laurens, " make our Wash- 

 ington a Mareschal de France, and the difficulty is at an 

 end." It was done.' 



" In further confirmation of the fact, a friend of Mr. 

 Custis heard Washington, at the siege of Yorktown, ad- 

 dressed as Monsieur le Mareschal, and an engraving from 

 the Earl of Buchan is superscribed, 'Marshal General 

 Washington.' " 



The above statement is taken from a recent 

 number of the Boston Morning Post. Might I 

 ask if the Earl of Buchan still has in his posses- 

 sion the engraving thus superscribed, "Marshal 

 General Washington ? " W. W. 



Malta. 



The oldest Clock in America. — 



"The Philadelphia library claims possession of the 

 oldest clock in America. It wants but a few years of 

 being two centuries old. It was made in London, keeps 

 good time, and is said to have been once owned by Oliver 

 Cromwell." 



W.W. 



Malta. 



