508 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 269. 



Authoriiy of Aristo&e. — . 



" A doctor of the Sorbonne, who maintained that the 

 heart was the seat of the nerves, was taken to a dissec- 

 tion and demonstration of the nervous system. Being 

 asked wliether he now believed that the nerves sprang from 

 the brain, he replied, ' I should, but for the very words of 

 Aristotle, which are expressly the contrary." — ThougMs 

 and Recollections, by J. Wray, London, 1782, p. 47. 



I have met with other forms of the same story 

 ■which suggest a common original. Can any of 

 your readers supply a better version, or any 

 authority ? J. T. 



Sandbanks. — Can any explanation be given as 

 to the existence of sandbanks at the mouths of 

 straits and larg« rivers, when one would suppose 

 the velocity of the currents discharged by them 

 permanently to remove any existing obstruction ? 



RiCARDUS. 



^^BeU-childe." — I shall be obliged by any of your 

 correspondents informing me the meaning of the 

 word bell-childe, which occurs frequently in wills 

 of the sixteenth century as follows, from the will 

 of Robert Davenie of Snetterton, 1580: "I doe 

 gyve and bequeathe unto Thomas Harvie, my bell- 

 childe, x'." Henky Davemey. 



Ballard'.s " Century of Celebrated Women." — 

 CoNAN will be obliged by any information relating 

 to the above wdrk (third series, published about 

 1754 or 1755), where published, and if now to be 

 procured. 



Rose of Sharon. — Can any of your corre- 

 spondents give me some account of a singular 

 flower, called the " Rose of Sharon," or the " Star 

 of Bethlehem ? " I have never seen a specimen 

 myself, but my informant told me that at first it 

 has the appearance of a dry stick ; but after it 

 has been put into boiling water, it assumes the 

 form of a white rose. It is obtained in the Holy 

 Land. Any information with regard to the nature 

 of the flower will much gratify me. 



F. M. MiDDLETON. 



Ghosts. — Mr. De Quincey, in note 12. to his 

 essay on Modern Superstition, says that the idea 

 of a ghost could not be conceived or reproduced 

 by Paganism. Is not the story of Caesar's ghost a 

 sufficient refutation of this ? XJneda.. 



Philadelphia. 



St. Pancras. — There are twelve churches in 

 England dedicated to St. Pancras. Could any of 

 your clerical readers inform me in what cities, 

 towns, or villages they are to be found ? Z. 



Serpenfs Egg. — Can any one tell me where a 

 serpent's egg, the charm peculiarly prized by the 

 Druids, can be found ? I am particularly anxious 

 to possess one. L. M. M. R. 



Burial of wounded Regimental Colours. — The 

 following notice is extracted from The Borderer's 

 Table-booh : 



« 1763 (May 31st). The old colours of the 25th regi- 

 ment of foot (Lord George Lennox's), quartered in New- 

 castle-upon-Tyne, being much wounded in Germany *, 

 particularly at the glorious and ever-memorable battle of 

 Minden, were buried with military honours." — Local 

 Fapers. 



Query, Are " wounded colours " buried now ? 

 If not, when did the practice cease ? And what 

 is done with " wounded," and, I suppose, dead 

 coloui's ? Many are put up in churches, I am 

 aware. Robert Rawlinson. 



King Dagoberfs Revenge. — In The Wiggiad, 

 a poem published at Bath in 1807, the following 

 lines occur : 



" So when Le hon Roi Dagobert 

 Cropp'd close his rebel-captive's hair, 

 And cut his whiskers off, and then 

 His head, lest they should grow again ; 

 And as Clotilda, when her brother 

 Sent his two nephews to their mother, 

 (Worse than King Dick) and, to enrage her, 

 Gave her the choice of axe or razor, 

 She answer'd Iiim with spirit high, 

 * Better that each a prince should die, 

 Than with the rabble be confounded, 

 And live a croppy cr a roundhead.' " 



The poem is not of much value, but it contains 

 evidences of a good deal of reading. I cannot 

 discover, and shall be glad to be told, whether the 

 above allusions are to historical facts, or to some 

 old French romance. S. 



Druidical Remains in Warioickshire. — Are there 

 any remains of Druidical antiquities in Warwick- 

 shire ? And where ? L. M. M. R. 



Brass in St. Helen's, Bishopsgate. — There is a 

 brass existing in the church of St. Helen, Bishops- 

 gate, which has I believe been recently engraved, 

 representing a female in an heraldic mantle charged 

 with lions rampant, vulned in the shoulder. Can 

 any of your readers inform me whose monument 

 this is (the inscription is lost), or to what families 

 similar arms belong ? From these being the only 

 arms on the figure, the kirtle bearing none, I pre- 

 sume it represents an unmarried person. The 

 date, judging from the execution, may be about 

 1420. ^' S. A. 



Hill Street, Berkeley Square. 



;^m0r fSkntxiti toftfr ^n^toeri. 



Saville of Oakhampton. — While staying a short 

 time ago in the neighbourhood of Oakhampton, I 

 fell in with a tradition respecting this family, to 



* A correspondent suggests that these " wounded co- 

 lours " must have been made of shot silk. 



