70 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 143. 



to the Histoire Litieraire de la France, tome x. 

 page 450., shows the continuance of this policy, 

 and that whilst the Church condemned, it still em- 

 ployed the ordeal in the twelfth century : 



"Un fameux voleur nomme Ansel, ayant pris des 

 croix, des calices dor, porta son vol cliez un marcliand 

 de Soissons pour le lui vendre, et lui fit promettre 

 avcc serment qu'il ne le declareroit point. I>e mar- 

 chand ayant ensuite entendu prononcer I'excommuni- 

 catiou dms Teglise de Soissons contre les complices 

 de ce vol, vint a Laon et decouvr it la chose au clerge. 

 Ansel nie le fait : le marchand propose de se battre 

 pour en decider. Ansel I'accepte, et tue le inarchand. 

 II faut, dit sur cela Guibert Abbe de Nbgent, ou, que 

 le marchand ait mal fait de decouvrir un secret qu'il 

 avait promis avec serment de garder, ou, ee qui est 

 beaucoup plus vrai, que la loi de se battre pour decider 

 de I'innoeence et de la verite est injuste. ( ar il est cer- 

 tain, njoute-t-il, quil ny a ancwie canon qui autorise une 

 telle loi." 



Nevertheless, it was employed in the case of 

 some Paulician heretics, in the diocese of Soissons. 

 Clementius and Evrard were examined — 



" Mais I'eveque ne pouvaiit titer la confession de leurs 

 erreurs, et les temoins etani ahsens, il les condamna au 

 jugement de I'eau exorcisee. I.e prelat dit le messe, a 

 laquelle il communia les accuses, en disant : Que le 

 corps et le sang de notre Seigneur soit ajourd'hui une 

 ^preuve pour vous !" 



Clementius was thrown in ; but — 



"Loin d'aller au fonds de I'eau, il surnagea comme un 

 roseau, et fut tenu pour convaincu !" 



I was assured a miracle of this description was 

 lately witnessed in the person of a very fat lady, 

 •who floated on the surface of the National Bath at 

 Holborn, in spite of the repeated efforts of the 

 bath-woman to keep her down. Clementius, un- 

 fortunately, only fulfilled the proverb " of falling 

 out of the fire-[)an into the fire." Whilst the 

 bishop hesitated as to his oi'tbodoxy, the mob 

 detennined that question, broke into the prison, 

 and burnt him and his brother. The ordeal died 

 away as civilisation spread and legal institutions 

 were established. It has been said, indeed, it was 

 abolished in England in the 3rd of Henry III , 

 A. D. 1219, by an ordinance of the King in Council, 

 as given in Mymer, vol. i. p. 228. This seems, 

 however, an "ad interim" order, made because 

 that the ordeal of fire and water was condemned 

 by the Churcli. I may add, that in the Sibl. Max. 

 Patrum, tome xiii., two very interesting tracts by 

 S. Agohard will be found ; one, p. 429., " Ad- 

 versus legem Gundobaldi ;" the other at p. 476., 

 contrb, "Judicium Dei;" upon which J. Grimm, 

 Deutsche Rechls Alterthumer, vol. ii. p. 909., sliould 

 be consulted. S. H. 



Athenaeum. 



POETICAL SIMILARITIES. 



I beg to send you a few odds and ends in 

 illustration of what seems to be an inevitable 

 consequence of writing poetry, viz. unconscious 

 imitation : 



1. Pope's line, In his Essay on Man : 



" What thin partitions sense from thought divide ! " 



is merely a verbal echo of Dryden's line in his 

 Absalom and Achitophel : 



" And thin partitions do their bounds divide. " 



2. Milton's expression of orient pearl, at tlie 

 beofinning of the second book of Paradise Lost, is 

 probably taken from Shakspeare, Richard III., 

 Act IV. Sc.4. : 



" The liquid drops of tears that you have shed 

 Shall come again transform'd to orient pearl." 



I have never seen this resemblance noted. 



3. And while I am on the subject of tears, I 

 will mention a similarity between Tennyson and 

 Milton. In the Millers Daughter we have : 



" And dews that would have fallen in tears 

 I kiss'd away before they fell." 



Very pretty, no doubt, but to my mind evidently 

 suggested by a most exquisite passage in the fifth 

 book of the Paradise Lost, which is in every one's, 

 mouth : 



" Two other precious drops that ready stood 

 Each in their crystal sluice, he ere they fell 

 Kiss'd." 



4. What a wholesale imitation of Thomson's 

 Castle of Indolence do we. find in Campbell's Ger- 

 trude of Wyoming. Thus, Gertrude of Wyoming^ 

 Part II. St. XII.: 



" But stock-doves plaining through its gloom profound." 



Evidently imitated from Castle of Indolence,. 

 Cant. I. St. IV. : 



" Or stock-doves plain amid the forest deep." 

 Again, Gertrude of Wyoming, Part II. St. xxiii, : 

 " . . . . . . . beyond 



Expiession's power to paint, all languishingly fond." 



Which is very sim;ilar to Castle of Indolence, 



Cant I. St. xLiv. : 



" As loose on flow'ry beds all languishingly lay." 

 With your permission, I will send you a i'Qvr 



Notes on Milton's Lyc.idas, which a))pear to me to 



be worthy of attention. C. Mansfield Ingleby. 

 Birminjiham. 



rOLK LORE. 



Northumherhnd Tradition. — Joaney or Johnnjr 

 Reed, the paris.li clerk of a village near Newcastle, 

 was returning home one evening, and in passinir a 

 gate bv the roadside marvelleil much to see nine 

 cuts about it. His wonder was changed to horror 



