July 3. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



9: 



any one who could explain it. Has it ever been, 

 or can it be, accounted for ? W. Cl. 



[Tliis curious fact was first recorded by Pepys, who, 

 in his Diary, under the date 31st July, 1665 (vol. iii. 

 p. 60. ) writes as follows : — 



" This evening with Mr. Brisband, speaking of en- 

 chantments and spells, I telling him some of my 

 ch<irmes; he told me this of his own knowledge, at 

 Bourdeaux, in France. 



" 'ITie words were these : — 

 " * Voyci un Corps mort. 

 Royde come un Baston, 

 Froid comme Martre, 

 Leger come un Esprit, 

 Levons te au nom de Jesus Christ.' 



** He saw four little girls, very young ones, all 

 kneeling each of them, upon one knee ; and one begun 

 the first line, whispering in the eare of the next, and 

 the second to the third, and the third to the fourth, 

 and she to the first. 



" Then the first begun- the second line, and so round 

 quite through ; and putting each one finger only to a 

 boy that lay flat upon his back on the ground, as if he 

 was dead : at the end of the words, they did with their 

 four fingers raise this boy as high as they could reach. 

 And Mr. Brisband, being there, and wondering at it, 

 as also being afraid to see it, for they would have had 

 him to have bore a part in saying the words, in the 

 room of one of the little girls that was so young that 

 they could hardly make her learn to repeat the words, 

 did, for fear there might be some slight used in it by 

 the boy, or that the boy might be light, call the cook 

 of the house, a very lusty fellow, as Sir G. Carteret's 

 cook, who is very big : and they did raise him just in 

 the same manner. 'I'his is one of the strangest things 

 I ever heard, but he tells it me of his own knowledge, 

 and I do heartily believe it to be true. I inquired of 

 him whether they were Protestant or Catholique 

 glrlcs ; and he told me they were Protestant, which 

 made it the more strange to me." 



In illustration of this passage Lord Braybrooke 

 adds, at vol. v. p. 245., the following note, which we 

 insert, as it serves to bring before our readers evidence 

 of this, at present, inexplicable fact on the authority of 

 one of the most accomplished philosophers of our day : 



" The secret is now well known, and is described by 

 Sir David Brewster, in his Natural Magic, p. 256. 

 One of the most remarkable and inexplicable experi- 

 ments relative to the strength of the human frame is 

 that in which a heavy man is raised up the instant that 

 his own lungs, and those of the persons who raise him, 

 are inflated with air. This experiment was, I believe, 

 first shown in England a few years ago by Major H., 

 v/ho saw it performed in a larg^e party at Venice, under 

 the direction of an officer of the American navy. As 

 Mfjjor H. performed it more than once in my presence, 

 I sliall describe as nearly as possible the method which 

 he prescribed. The heaviest person in the company 

 lies down upon two chairs, his legs being supported by 

 the one, and his back by the other. Four persons, 

 one at each leg, and one at each shoulder, then try to 

 raise him ; and they find his dead weight to be very 

 great, from the difficulty they experience in supporting 



him. When he is replaced in the chair, each of tlhe 

 four persons takes hold of the body as before ; and tlie . 

 person to be lifted gives two signals, by clapping his 

 hands. At the first signal, he himself, and the four 

 lifters, begin to draw a long full breath ; and when the 

 inhalation is completed, or the lungs filled, the second 

 signal is given for raising the person from the chair. 

 To his own surprise, and that of his bearers, he riseu 

 with the greatest facility, as if he were no heavier than 

 a feather. On several occasions, I have observed, that 

 when one of the hearers performs his part ill by making . 

 the inhalation out of time, the part of the body which 

 he tries to raise is left as it were behind. As you 

 have repeatedly seen this experiment, and performed 

 the part both of the load and of the bearer, you can 

 testify how remarkable the effects appear to all parties, 

 and how complete is the conviction, either that tlie load 

 has been lightened, or the bearer strengthened, by the 

 prescribed process. At Venice the experiment was 

 performed in a much more imposing manner. The 

 heaviest man in the party was raised and sustained 

 upon the points of the forefingers of six persons. 

 Major H. declared that the experiment would not 

 succeed, if the person lifted were placed upon a board, 

 and the strength of the individuals applied to the board. 

 He conceived it necessary that the hearers should com- 

 municate directly with the body to be raised. 



" I have not had an opportunity of making any ex- 

 periments relative to these curious facts : but whether 

 the general effect is an illusion, or the result of known 

 principles, the subject merits a careful investigation."] 



De Sanctd Crucc. — Can you inform me who Is 

 the author of a book entitled De Sanctd Cruce ; 

 and what is the size and date ? Are there not 

 more than one under that title ? I rather think 

 that Gretser the Jesuit wrote such a book, but I 

 have not been able to meet with it among the 

 London booksellers. Hugo. 



Etymology of " Aghindle" or " Aghendole ? " — 

 This is a small wooden measure containing eight 

 pounds and a half, being the fourth part of the old 

 peck of thirty-four pounds; and its use Is now 

 almost obsolete in those parts of Lancashire where 

 it was formerly known. It is alluded to In the 

 Notes of Pott's Discovery of Witches, edited by 

 James Crossley, Esq., for the Chetham Society. 



F. R. R. 



Pictures of Queen Elizabeth's Tomb. — Fuller, la 

 his account of Queen Elizabeth, Church History, 

 lib. X., says : 



" Her corpse was solemnly interred under a fair 

 tomb in Westminster, the lively draught whereof is 

 pictured in most London, and many country churches, 

 every parish being proud of the shadow of her tomb." 



Can any of your correspondents point out in- 

 stances where these are still preserved ? 



T. Sternberg. 



