Sbpt. 2. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



181 



the couple were standing at the altar rails, " God 

 speed the couple well." Have any of your cor- 

 respondents ever heard of this saying before ? or 

 are they aware whether it exists at present any- 

 where ? A Constant Rbadee, 



Moon Superstitions. — 



" This root (the Sea Poppy), so much valued for re- 

 moving all pains in tlie breast, stomach, and intestines, 

 is good also for disordered lungs, and is so much better 

 here than in other places, that the apothecaries of Corn- 

 wall send hither for it; and some people plant them in 

 their gardens in Cornwall, and will not part with them 

 under sixpence a root. A very simple notion they have 

 with regard to this root, which falls not much short of 

 the Druid superstition, in gathering and preparing their 

 Selago and Samolus. This root, you must know, is ac- 

 counted very good both as an emetic and cathartic. If, 

 therefore, the}' design that it shall operate as the former, 

 their constant opinion is, that if it be scraped and sliced 

 upwards, that is, beginning from the root, the knife is to 

 ascend towards the leaf; but if they would have it to 

 operate as a cathartic, they must scrape the root down- 

 wards. The Senecio also, oi Groundsel, they strip up- 

 wards for -an emetic, and downwards for a cathartic. In 

 Cornwall they have several such groundless fancies re- 

 lating to plants, and they gather the medicinal ones all 

 when the moon is just such an age ; which, with many 

 other such whims, must be considered as the reliques of 

 the Druid superstition." — Borlase's Observations on the 

 Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly. 



Gl-AtJCUS. 



Wedding Custom at Cranbrook. — It is cus- 

 tomary here, and I believe in other parts of Kent, 

 when a newly married couple leave the church, to 

 strew the pathway, not with flowers, but with 

 emblems of the bridegroom's calling ; carpenters 

 walk on shavings ; butchers on skins of slaughtered 

 sheep ; the followers of St. Crispin are honoured 

 with leather parings ; paper-hangers with slips of 

 paper ; blacksmiths with old iron, rusty nails, &c. 

 This custom is new to me, and I should be glad if 

 any correspondent of " N. & Q." could tell me if 

 it is prevalent elsewhere. H. S. Middleton. 



Cranbropk, Rent, 



PBMBBRTON AND NEWTON. 



The following should be deposited in every 

 publication which is much consulted by inquirers. 

 It refers to the third edition of the Principia, 

 edited by Pemberton : 



," Pemberton tells us that he had frequent intercourse 

 with him [Newton], and that 'a great number of letters 

 passed between us on this account.' .... Pemberton 

 died in 1771, and left his printed books to his friend Dr. 

 Wilson, but his papers were most probably included in the 

 residua of his property, which was bequeathed to a gentle- 

 man of the name of Miles, who had married his niece. 

 He is described as a timber merchant at Rotlierhithe ; he 

 appears to have been alive in 17«8, and certainly had 

 sons ; but whether they are now alive, or where, in that 

 esse, they maj' reside, has not been discovered IPhil. Mag. 

 Way, 1836, vol. viii. p. 441.] . . . The hope, however, must 



not be abandoned, of these records being yet traced out ; 

 and it is hardly possible, without them, to complete the 

 history of Newton's last efforts for the improvement of ' 

 his Principia." 



The above is from Rigaud's Historical Essay on 

 the . . . Principia, pp. 107, 108, (Oxford, 1838, 

 8vo.). To this I add, that no manuscripts appear 

 to have been sold in Pemberton and Wilson's 

 book sale in 1772. But it may be suspected that 

 one of the copies of Pemberton's edition had the 

 editor's written notes in it. Of these there were 

 three, all large paper. The first, apparently un- 

 bound, sold for five shillings : the second and 

 third were both gilt-edged ; but the second sold 

 for only half-a-guinea, while the third sold for owe 

 pound thirteen. It may be suspected that this 

 third copy contained Pemberton's notes, though 

 it may have been only Newton's present to his 

 editor : consequently, any gilt-edged copy of the 

 third edition of the Principia, with old handwrit- 

 ing in it, should be made known and carefully 

 examined. And priced catalogues should not be 

 despised. M. 



Cross and Pile. — It Is not impossible that the 

 word pile may come from the Latin pila, a ball 

 or globe, and may bear reference to the balls of 

 the Lombard arms, which we sometimes see on 

 coins ; or else to the globe surmounted with the 

 cross which was sometimes represented on them. 

 I have an impression that I have seen jettons or 

 abbey-counters with a cross on one side and a 

 globe so surnaounted on the other. 



Henbt T. Kuubt. 



Le Neve's Fasti. — The delegates of the Claren- 

 don Press have done themselves honour by pub- 

 lishing Mr. Hardy's new and greatly improved 

 edition of this work, which may now, with Dr. 

 Cotton's Fasti Feci. Hibern., be considered indis- 

 pensable to students of our history and literature. 

 Dr. Maitland in his plan for a Church History 

 Society recommended this reprint (see " N. & Q. ' 

 Vol. ii., p. 371.), and to his suggestion we are in- 

 debted for this, as for many other valuable works 

 of reference. 



Accuracy being of the utmost importance \r\. 

 such books, I would suggest that interleaved 

 copies should be kept in public libraries, in order 

 that such errors as are detected may be corrected 

 at once. One or two which I have noticed I sub- 

 join. 



Vol. iii. p. 615., for " Richard Tatham," read 

 " Ralph." The public orator of 1809 is the present 

 master of St. John's, whose name is rightly given 

 elsewhere in the volume. 



Vol. iii. p. 615., for "Thomas Crick, B.A.," 

 read " B. D." 



