^ 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 141. 



notes to wliici), whether they deign to notice the 

 absurd fable or not, no doubt amply refute it by 

 desL'i'ij)tions of the ancient inauguriition-cerenionies 

 of Tyrconnell and other territories from autlientic 

 Irish MSS., I send you the remarks made upon it 

 in the '• imigne sed insunum opus" of Dr. Keating, 

 as tj'anslated by llalliday; the author's loniTjore/ace 

 to the history, frcmi which the ibllowing extract is 

 taken, deserving the former but not the latter 

 ■qualification ; 



" This," says Keating, wlien he has repeated the 

 batliing-in-hroth story,"is evidently an impudent fiction 

 of Cambrensis, for the aiuials of Ireland expressly 

 mention, that the ceremony of inaugurating the kings 

 of Tirconnell was this; tlie kinj^ bt-ing seatt'd on an 

 eminence (the Rock of Kiimaciennan) surrounded by 

 the nobility and gentry (i nieasc uasal a»us oireachta) 

 of his own country, one of the chiefs of his nobles 

 stood bef(>re Inm with a straight white wand in his 

 hand, and on presenting it to the kin:^ of Tirconnell, 

 used to desire liim ' to receive the sovereignty of his 

 country, and to preserve equal and impartial justice in 

 €very part of his dominions ;.' the reason that the 

 wand was straight and wliite, was to put him in mind 

 that he should be unbiassed in his judgment, and pure 

 and upright in all his actions." — ilaliiday's Keating, 

 Preface, p. xxxiii. 



Mac an Bhaird. 



Hoax on Sir Walter Scott (Vol. v., p. 438.). — 

 A ballad, written in 1824 by the present Vicar of 

 Morwenstow, adapted to the legendary chorus of 

 "Twenty thoiisaml Cornish men will know the 

 reason why," was hailed by Sir Walter (see Lock- 

 hart's Life) as a " spirited ballad of the seventeenth 

 century!" R. S. H. 



American Loyalists (Vol. iv., p. 165.). — A. C. 

 "will find the best information in regard tothe his- 

 tory of the American loyalists, after the American 

 Revolution, in " The American Loyalists, or Bio- 

 graphical Sketches of Adherents to the British 

 Crown in the War of the Revolution. By Lorenzo 

 Sabine. Boston, Mass. Charles C. Little and 

 James Brown, Publishers, 1847. 738 pp." In this 

 work Mr. Sabine has recorded the names of about 

 six hundred loyalists (calleil in this country Tories), 

 with such circumstances connected wiih their lives, 

 after their declared adherence to tlie British cause, 

 as he was able to glean. A. C. is very much mis- 

 taken in supposing that the loyalists "prospered in 

 the world after the confiscation of their property." 

 Their estates in this country were very generally 

 forfeited, and the remunerations they received from 

 the Crown were mere pittances in comparison to 

 the amounts of their real sacrifices. Their letters 

 to this country, after their tlij:ht to England, are 

 filled with complaints of the coldness with which 

 their attachment to the king was repaid by the 

 ministry. Many of them died in want, and others, 

 accepting the small donations accorded to them 

 after weary years of waiting, learned bitterly the 



value of the admonition, "Put not your trust -in 

 princes." T. Westcott. 



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



Spanish Vessels wrecked on the Coast of Ireland 

 (Vol. v., pp. 491.598,). — On the magnificent iron- 

 bound coast of Miltovvn IVIalbay, in the west .of 

 L'eland, is a point running out into the sea called 

 " Spanish Point," on which one at least, if not 

 more, of the ships beh)nging to the Spanish ar- 

 mada was wrecked. Some of the peasantry also 

 had ancient carved coffers and chests in their 

 houses, which had been handed down from father 

 to son, and which had been saved from the wreck; 

 and there were traditions that many objects of 

 value might have been found which had been 

 derived from the same source; but as more than 

 twenty years have elapsed since I was in that 

 country, I cannot say whether any now remain to 

 reward the inquiries of antiquaries. Pereduk. 



Suicides buried in Cross Roads (Vol. iv., p. 116.). 

 — In Plato's Laws (Burges' transl., book ix.c. 12.) 

 the murderer of any of his near kin, after being 

 put to death, is"^to be "cast out of the city, naked, 

 in an appointed place where three roads meet ; and 

 let all the magistrates, in behalf of the whole state, 

 carry each a stone, and hurl it at the head of the 

 dead body," &c. J. P. 



Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (Vol. v., p. 394.). -— 

 Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell formerly resided in this 

 city ; she now lives in the city of New York. She 

 determined to study medicine some years since, 

 in order to fit herself for practice. She had con- 

 siderable difficulty in obtaining admission as -a 

 medical student, but was finally entered at Geneva 

 Medical College, New York, where she graduated 

 in 1849. She afterwards went to London and 

 Paris. These are about all the particulars ia 

 reference to this lady which have been made 

 public in this country. In consequence of her 

 example, the subject of educating females as 

 doctors was much discussed in the United States. 

 The propriety of employing them in obstetrical 

 cases, and many complaints to which females are 

 subject, has in its favour common sense and de- 

 cency, and against it nought but professional 

 prejudice. In this state a college for the instruc- 

 tion of females was chartered in 1849 ; it is called 

 "The Female Medical College of Pennsylvania." 

 At the last commencement eight young ladies 

 received their diplomas. There are fifty-two 

 students entered for the next course, commencing 

 in September of this year. There are eight pro- 

 fessorships in this institution, which are at present 

 filled by men, but which will be awarded to 

 female professors as soon as experience will fit 

 the graduates for them. The demonstrator of 

 anatomy, Hannah E. Longshore, Is a graduate. 

 The prospects of the institution are favourably. 



