386 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 263. 



me whether it is usual there to inter bodies within 

 twenty-four hours after deatli ; and if so, under 

 what circumstances ? — or is it only in the case of 

 fever or other contagious disease ? J. R. G. 



Dublin. 



Harthenware Vessels found at Fountains Abbey. 

 - — When strolling among the ruins of Fountains 

 Abbey on the 28th of January last, a time when 

 workmen were engaged in removing the earth and 

 stones from the floor, that had been accumulating 

 from the period of its desecration, I was shown by 

 the man who had found it, a brown jug of earthen- 

 ware buried injthe stone basement of the now de- 

 slroyed choir screen. The jug was discovered by 

 the top being crushed with the wheel of a cart 

 used to remove the soil. When found, and when 

 I saw it, it contained a considerable quantity of a 

 dark substance like burned wood. 



It seems from a paper in the Mlusfrated News 

 for June 17, that — 



" At a recent meeting of the Royal Institute of British 

 Architects, the Earl de Grey president in the chair, his 

 lordship exhibited several casts and original objects 

 brought from Fountains Abbey. There was also an in- 

 ■teresting discussion on the probable use of some earthen- 

 ware jars, imbedded in the base of a screen in the nave. 

 These jars were laid in mortar on their sides, and then 

 ■surrounded with the solid stonework, the necks pro- 

 truding from the wall like cannons from the side of a 

 ship. Their probable use has been the subject of much 

 conjecture." 



One conjecture is, that these jars have been 

 used to burn incense in ; but this is very unlikely, 

 as when the stalls were standing their mouths must 

 have been hidden. Can any reader of "N. & 

 Q." explain their use ? It may probably be il- 

 lustrated by some mediseval writer on the services 

 of the Catholic Church, alike unread by your cor- 

 respondent and the Members of the Institute of 

 British Architects. Edward Peacock. 



Bottesford Moors. 



Arms of De Montfort. — Near the small fishing 

 village of Dinar, at the entrance of the river 

 Eance, opposite the towns of St. Malo and St. 

 Sorvan, are the ruins of a religious house com- 

 monly called Le Prieure. It was formerly called 

 TJHopital Bechet, and was founded in 1324, and 

 dedicated to St. Philip and St. James by Olivier 

 and GeflFroy de Montfort, who gave it to Mathurin 

 monks, otherwise called freres de la Mercy, in 

 memory of their having been rescued from the 

 hands of the infidels by monks of this order. Some 

 five-and-twenty years ago, the tombs and effigies 

 of the founders were still to be seen in the ruined 

 chapel, then used as a pen for cattle ; and if any 

 care has been taken to preserve them, they may 

 be still in existence. Tliey are represented in the 

 armour of the period, chain mail with surcoats : 

 one bears on his shield the arms of one of the 



fiimilies of De Montfort of Brittany (Argent, " a la 

 croix de gueules givree d'or ") ; the other bears 

 a lion rampant, double tailed, surmounted by a 

 cross " ancree et givree." De Montfort, Earl of 

 Leicester temp. King John, bore : Gules, a lion 

 rampant, " queue fourchee," argent. The pecu- 

 liarity of the combination of the two charges on 

 the same shield struck me as worthy of notice. 

 Can any of your heraldic correspondents inform 

 me if instances of such combinations are common ? 

 Edgar M'Culloch. 

 Guernsey. 



Cannon-hall Effects. — At a court-martial held 

 at the Cape of Good Hope in 1806, on an officer 

 charged with cowardly prostrating himself on the 

 ground, with the view of avoiding the enemy's fire 

 at Blueberg, Captains W^atson and Clawson, both 

 of the Royal Artillery, affirmed, that they had 

 each heard of distinct instances where soldiers 

 were bruised, and rendered incapable of doing 

 duty, by the mere concussion of a cannon-ball, 

 and that without their being at all struck by it. 



Can any of your correspondents substantiate 

 the verity of this, by particularising the instances 

 referred to, or by proving that It was actually the 

 air-current caused by the passage of the ball (not 

 the heat of the climate, or any other extraneous 

 agency) which disabled these men ? Or will 

 some of your more scientific correspondents pro- 

 pound any general rule, as to the effect likely to 

 be produced by such a concussion ? 



Daniel Forstth. 



Edinburgh. 



St. Peters at Rome. — Can you point out to me 

 any architectural work in which is described the 

 difference between the plan of St. Peter's at Rome 

 as it now stands, and the original plan of the 

 great Michael Angelo ? One of the sketches seen 

 over a doorway in the Vatican library suggests 

 these obvious remarks : — 1. The building of 

 Michael Angelo would have been placed within a 

 large colonnaded square, instead of standing at 

 the end of the two carved colonnades of Bernini. 

 2. Instead of windows (often the perplexity of 

 modern architects, and the deformity of modern 

 architecture), there would have been, in many 

 places, sculpture in niches producing a far more 

 noble and religious effect. 3. The Greek (instead 

 of the Latin) cross being adopted, the dome, now 

 concealed by the fagade, would have been visible 

 from the front of the building. Nothing is more 

 fatal than to meddle with the original designs of 

 genius. Wm. Ewaet. 



Captain Upton. — A Captain Upton was at the 

 defence of Gibraltar, under General Elliott. Re- 

 quired, an account of his military services, birth- 

 place, wife's and mother's christian and maiden- 

 names ; a general account of his family connexions 



