180 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 147. 



other chants. The table of the eight tones given 

 by the Rev. T. Hehnore (pp. xlii. — xvi.), with 

 their respective beginnings and endings, may, 

 perhaps, take the place of a definition. 



W. Sparrow Simpson, B.A. 



THE TRUE MAIDEN-HAIR FERN. 



(Vol. vi., pp. 30. 108.) 



I met with a book yesterday with which I had 

 not been previously acquainted, viz. Newmfin's 

 History of British Ferns, Lond. 1844, 8 vo. The 

 ■writer enters into copious details respecting the 

 Maiden-hair, a few of which I shall give to perfect 

 my Note. 



The only species of the genus Adiantum that has 

 been discovered in Britain, and perhaps in Europe, 

 is the Capillus Veneris. It is found in several 

 parts of Cornwall, Devonshire, Wales, and in Glen 

 Meay, Isle of Man. Sir J. E. Smith says that the 

 A. pedatiim Is principally used In the south of 

 France to make the syrup Capillaire, Mr. Newman 

 remarks that A. pedatum Is not a native of Europe, 

 and queries, " Does not the supposition originate 

 in the French name of Capillaire being applied to 

 the plant as well as the syrup?" We are told 

 by Bulliard, in his work on the medical plants of 

 France, that It is known In shops under the name 

 of Capillaire de Montpellier; and no mention Is 

 made of Its use as an ingredient of the syrup called 

 Capillaire, though the author adds that It Is fre- 

 quently used In medicine. The medical properties 

 of the True Maiden-hair have been much extolled. 

 Ray, and his authority. Dr. Peter Formlus, a 

 Frenchman, make it a universal panacea. Still 

 older writers bear testimony to Its powers; and 

 Tragus, after enumerating sundry of Its virtues, 

 boasts of prudently omitting some as unworthy 

 of being related, or believed, by Christians. Dr. 

 Ball says that the Arran Islanders use a decoction 

 of its leaves Instead of tea. I have often heard the 

 same, but though I have spent some time In Arran, 

 I never saw It so used. The Capillus Veneris is 

 styled the True Maiden-hair Fern, In contradis- 

 tinction to A. Ruta-muraria and Asplenium Tri- 

 chomanes, which are often confounded with It 

 under the common name Adiantum, or. In England, 

 Maiden-hair. Asplenium Trichomanes, or com- 

 mon Spleenwort, is a beautiful little fern, and very 

 common : its stem is also black and wiry, but is 

 short and leaved from the root ; unlike the Capillus, 

 which is tall and bare, leaved only at the top. Tiie 

 medical properties of the Spleenwort are likewise 

 much celebrated by the older botanists. Lightfoot 

 informs us that in Scotland the country-people 

 give a tea or syrup of It for coughs. Luo na 

 canamh. In my former note. Is a misprint for Lus 

 na ccnamh. Eirionnach. 



July 21. 1852. 



It may be useful to add to the interesting note of 

 EiRioNNACH the following localities as those la 

 which the Adiantum {Capillus Veneris) has been 

 found : — 



Ilfracombe, Rillidge Point, White Pebble Bay, la 



the north of Devon. — Newman. 

 Brinham, south of Devon. — Ibid. 

 Barry Island, and other limestone rocks east of 



Dunraven, In Glamorganshire. — Dillivyn. 

 Isle of JNIan. — Lightfoot's Flora Scotica : see also- 



Newman. Seleucus. 



" THE GOOD OLD CAUSE. 



(Vol. vi., p. 74.) 



It may be difficult to fix the exact time when 

 this expression was first used, or to point out Its 

 author ; but Its origin should, I think, be looked 

 for after the time when the adherents of the 

 original "cause" had become split Into different 

 parties. 



Many of the old parliamentary p.arty, or ad- 

 herents of the "cause" properly so called, were 

 hostile to the Commonwealth government ; but 

 the supporters of the latter arrogated to themselves 

 exclusively the title of maintainers of " the good 

 old cause.' 



In 1659, Prynne, who was as violently opposed 

 to the Commonwealth, as he had at one time been 

 to the King, published a pamphlet with the title : 

 2^he T'rue Good Old Cause rightly stated, and the 

 False Uncased, In Avhich he denies the right of tlie 

 Commonwealth to the name, and claims It for his 

 own party. In answer to this, another pamphlet 

 was published in the same year with the title, 

 Mr. Pryn^s Good Old Cause stated and stunted 

 Ten Years Ago, or a most dangerous Design in 

 misstating the Good, by mistaking the Bad Old Cause, 

 &c. From these tracts It appears that the name 

 was then popularly applied to the cause of the 

 Commonwealth. Prynne accuses the other party 

 of attempting " to bring our old religion, govern- 

 ment, parliaments, laws, liberties, to speedy deso- 

 lation and Irrecoverable destruction, under the 

 disguise of ' maintaining the good old cause,' " and 

 adds in a marginal note, " if they mean by this 

 good old cause their new Commonwealth, It was 

 begotten but in March, 1648," &c. ; and then pro- 

 ceeds to show what was the " true original good 

 old cause, grounds, ends, drawing the houses of 

 parliament to raise and continue their armies." 

 The answer to Prynne also shows the sense ia 

 which the term was then used ; he says : 



" The present outcry for the good old cause, i. e. 

 the Commonwealth government declared and proclaimed 

 in March, 1648, he impeaches as the project of Jesuitlck 

 instruments," &c. — P. 2. 



The name may have been previously used, but 



