58 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 142. 



The manner in which the tune came to be 

 adopted by the Americans is shown in the follow- 

 ing letter of the Rev. W. Gordon. Describing the 

 battles of Lexington and Concord, before alluded 

 to, he says : 



" The brigade under Lord Percy marched out [of 

 Boston] playing, by way of contempt, Yankee Doodle : 

 they were afterwards told they had been made to dance 

 to it." 



The air thus intended as a slur upon the Ame- 

 ricans was immediately adopted by them, used 

 throughout the Revolutionary war, and ever since. 



I have taken up a good deal of room with this 

 Yankee matter ; but as the subject is one which 

 has engaged the attention of your readers, I trust 

 I will be excused for giving all the American in- 

 formation upon a topic which has somewhat engaged 

 my attention. I hope that this note may attract 

 the notice of some of your readers who are able to 

 throw some light upon the following questions : 



L Is there a book called the Musical Antiquities 

 of England? 



2. If so, does that work contain the tune Nankee 

 Doodle ? 



3. If so, what is the origin of the air ?_ does it 

 I'efer to Cromwell or not ? 



4. Do any of your readers know a tune called 

 Lydia Fisher's Jig, or one to which is sung the 

 words Lucy Lockett, &c. 



5. Who was Dr. Shuckburg, and on what 

 authority is the composition of Yankee Doodle 

 ascribed to him ? T. Westcott. 



Philadelphia, U.S.A., June 5, 1852. 



PLAGUE STONES. 



(Vol. v., passim,') 



I have inclosed some impressions of a "plague- 

 stone" in my collection, which you will oblige me 

 by distributing, so far as lies in your power, 

 amongst such of your correspondents as have 

 shown an interest in the subject. I shall be glad 

 to supply more if required. 



I have been led to have it drawn upon stone, 

 and printed, by the many notices which have ap- 

 peared in " N. & Q." during the past few months, 

 all tending rather to discountenance the idea of 

 any special provision of this kind. Two or more 

 instances have been enumerated in which so- 

 termed "plague-stones" have with more or less 

 Srobability formed the sockets of way-side crosses. 

 ly specimen, however, clearly testifies that such 

 special provision was occasionally made. The 

 depth and size of the dish, being only four and a 

 half inches square, and two inches deep, are wholly 

 insufficient to afford the i-equisite support to any 

 upright pillars. It likewise stood within the 

 bounds of private property, fifty or sixty yards 

 from the road, which is one of little traffic. More 



than all, the anti-popish date of the house itself 

 (1650) precludes the possibility of such an origin. 

 The stone formed part of the inward coping of 

 the garden or court-yard wall of a house in the 

 Wash Dam, at Latchford, near Warrington. From 

 time immemorial it has been known as the Plague 

 Stone; and tradition asserts that in former days 

 several cases of plague occurred in this house. 

 All direct communication with the neighbourhood 

 being cut off", the square dish seen In the stone 

 was made for the express purpose of holding a 

 mixture of vinegar and water to disinfect the 

 money paid for provisions and other necessaries, 

 which were brought and laid down at a distance. 

 The story went that the victims of the pestilence 

 were buried in a field or croft near the house ; and 

 in the year 1843, on this precise spot, some farm 

 labourers came upon a large flat stone, beneath 

 which lay three entire human skeletons. K. 



BURIALS IN WOOLLEN. 



(Vol. v., pp.414. 542.) 



Your correspondent Mr. Booker may be in- 

 formed that parochial registers afford evidence 

 that certificates of burial in woollen were required 

 to a considerably later date, March, 1681. In 

 that of Hasilbury Bryan, the burials for 1730, 

 beginning the ecclesiastical year from March 25th 

 as still usual, ai-e headed, " Burled in woollen only 

 as made by affidavit." But no less than four out 

 of the seven names of persons buried in that year 

 are followed by the words no affidavit. It farther 

 appears to have been usual for the clergyman to 

 affix his name, with " ita esse test. A. B., rector;" 

 and then to send the book to the Lady- day Ses- 

 sions for the magistrates' insjjection. And in this 

 instance, instead of their writing " allowed by us," 

 a lawyer's hand has inserted the following notice : 



" The rector or his curate ought to get a warrant, 

 or warrants, to levy the penalty, according to the act 

 for burying in woollen." 



The last entry of the kind In the Hasilbury 

 Register is for the year 1733-4 (so written for the 

 first time, as comprehending January and Feb- 

 ruary of what we should style 1734), and it has 

 the magistrates approving signatures in the fol- 

 lowing form : 



" May y» 18th. 1734. 

 Allowed by us, Ric. Bingham, Thos. Gundrey." 



The topic recalls to one's mind Pope's light- 

 minded, yet severe, exemplifications of the ruling 

 passion strong in death ; amongst which he has 

 introduced the exclamation : 



" Odious ! in woollen ! 'Twould a saint provoke ! 

 Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke." 



H. W. 



