2nd s. NO 98., Nov. 14. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



399 



crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Undaunted bravery exhi- 

 bited in the suppression of the slave trafSc in the African 

 seas, a character unequalled for enterprise and consum- 

 mate skill in all the details of his profession, recommended 

 for his arduous service Lieut. Richard Roberts, R. N. : 

 in accomplishing it, he surpassed not only the wildest 

 visions of former da^'s, but even the warmest anticipa- 

 tions of the present, gave to science triumphs she had not 

 dared to hope, and created an epoch for ever memorable in 

 the history of his country and navigation. The thousands 

 that shall follow in his tract must not forget who it was 

 that first taught the world to traverse with such marvel- 

 lous rapidity that highway of the ocean, and who in 

 thus connecting by a voyage of a few da3's the Eastern 

 and Western hemispheres, has for ever linked his name 

 with the greatest achievements of navigation since Colum- 

 bus first revealed Europe and America to each other. 

 God having permitted him this high destination was 

 pleased to decree that the leader of this great enterprise 

 should also be its martyr. Lieut. Roberts perished with 

 all on board his ship, the ' President,' when on her voyage 

 from America to England, she was lost in the month of 

 March, A. d. 1840. As the gallant seaman under whose 

 guidance was accomplished an undertaking the results of 

 which centuries will not exhaust, it is for his country, 

 foi: the world to remember him. His widow, who erects 

 this melancholy memorial, may be forgiven, if to her 

 even these claims are lost in the recollection of that de- 

 votedness of attachment, that uprightness and kindli- 

 ness of spirit, which, for alas ! but three brief years, formed 

 the light and joy of her existence." 

 « British Queen," "Black Joke," "Sirius," " President." 



EvERARD Home Coleman. 



79, Wood Street, Cheapside. 



Blood that will not wash out (2°'^ S. iv. 260.) — 

 In the border for the narrow causeway on the 

 tui'npike road between Newton and Winwick, 

 Lancashire, is a large stone, which from the days 

 of Cromwell, as I know from ti'aditions in my own 

 family, has been called " The Bloody Stone." 

 Tradition says it was laid down as a memorial of 

 the battle of Red Bank, a pass about a quarter of 

 a mile nearer Winwick, and that the bloody hue 

 was Imparted to it miraculously, as a mark of 

 Heaven's displeasure against some reputed atro- 

 cities committed by Cromwell's soldiers in the 

 Gallow's Croft, an eminence on the field of battle, 

 where several prisoners were hung contrary to the 

 articles of capitulation. 



Few of the country people pass this " Bloody 

 Stone " without casting their spittle upon it ; and 

 hence its appearance is frequently as if overflowed 

 with blood ; a deception which is owing, of course 

 (as Bingley observes of. the stones at Barn- 

 borough), " to its accidentally natural red tinge." 



William Bybom. 



Liverpool. 



Igtiez de Castro (2°'^ S. iv. 287.) — I am in 

 possession of a copy of the play which is the sub- 

 ject of the query of W. M. M. It was printed at 

 Lisbon in 1844, and was sent to my late father by 

 a friend in Portugal, to replace a copy of an earlier 

 edition of the same work that had been purchased 

 at a bookstall in Lisbon more than fifty years ago, 



but was lost in a fire. Of Nicola Luiz himself 

 my father never could obtain any information. 

 His play, however, is entirely distinct from that 

 of Ferreira, which I also have in a collection of 

 works relating to Ignez de Castro. A portrait of 

 this unfortunate lady was engraved for Mr. Adam- 

 son's Memoirs of Camoens. I should feel greatly 

 obliged if any reader of "N. & Q." could inform 

 me what has become of the copperplate. 



E. H. Adamson. 



It may interest your querist to know, that Ignez 

 de Castro^ " a tragedy in five acts " (by the au- 

 thor of Rural Sonnets), was published in Hood's 

 Magazine, commencing with the number for 

 June, 1846, and is illustrated with a portrait on 

 steel of "D. Ignez de Castro." Cuthbert Bbde. 



Scolds in Carrichfergns (2""* S. iv. p. 167.) — 

 Abhba has given in a citation from the " Town 

 Records " of Carrickfergus what he chooses to 

 style " a most wholesome regulation," dated " Oc- 

 tober, 1574," but which most readers will condemn 

 as cruel and unmanly. However that may be, I 

 advert to it principally for the purpose of putting 

 a Query : Has Abhba actually referred to the 

 Records of Carrickfergus, and made from them 

 that extract which he has communicated to " N. 

 & Q."? It will not be disputed that fidelity of 

 quotation is peculiarly requisite in the pages of 

 a work now justly regarded as a high authority ; 

 neither can it be doubted that misquotations or 

 incorrect statements would seriously impair its 

 reputation. I, therefore, exempli gratia, proceed 

 to adduce the evidence on which I impugn 

 Abhba's quotation as not being, what it professes 

 to be, an original extract from ancient records ; 

 but a most inaccurate, if not designedly altered, 

 copy from the actual extract published long since 

 by M'Skimin in his History and Antiquities of 

 Carrickfergus, a valuable though concise topo- 

 graphical book, of which the second edition was 

 published at Belfast, 1823, in 8vo. The first edi- 

 tion had appeared at the same place in 1811, and 

 was only a 12mo. At p. 260. (of 2nd edition) 

 M'Skimin says : — 



" The following extract from our records shows the 

 archet5'pe of a custom that continued for manj' years : 



" ' October, 1574, ordered and agreede by the hole 

 Court, that all manner of Skoldes which shal be openly 

 detected of Skolding or evill wordes in manner of Skolding, 

 and for the same shal be condemned before Mr. Maior 

 and his brethren shal be drawne at the Sterne of a boate 

 in the water from the ende of the Pearl rounde abought 

 the Queenes Majesties Castell in manner of ducking, and 

 after when [p. 261.] a Cage shal be made the party so 

 condemned for a Skold shal be therein punished at the 

 discretion of the maior.' " 



M'Skimin (ib.') proceeds to tell us : — 



" It appears that a Cage was got soon after, and de- 

 linquents punished in the manner noticed; and that 

 regular lists were kept of all Scolds, and their names laid 

 before the grand juries." 



