232 



KOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 149. 



Scotland, and to have been once, if not twice, 

 married in that country. The date of her emi- 

 gration was also stated. Unfortunately, I did not 

 make any memorandum of the particulars, as I 

 took it for granted that the obituary notice would 

 have been copied into the English and Scotch 

 papers, and its correctness investigated. Strange 

 to say, it seems to have escaped the caterers for 

 the English newspapers, although the death of a 

 person said to be about 103, which occurred about 

 the same time, " went the rounds." lleference to 

 a file of American papers for March last, would, 

 I dare say, enable any person interested in the 

 matter to make the necessary inquiries. I believe 

 that accurate registries have been kept in Scotland 

 from a much earlier period than that of this lady's 

 alleged birth. E. H. D. D. 



At Barton, a village not far from Richmond in 

 Yorkshire, is a monument in memory of Mar- 

 garet (Hebburne), first the wife of R. Dods- 

 worth, Esq., and then of Col. H. Chaytor. She 

 saw three centuries, being born in 1598 and 

 (lying in 1704. I am indebted for this notice to 

 LongstafFe's RichmondsMre, an exceedingly well- 

 digested book, which, by the way, contains some 

 weather rhymes and sayings with regard to places 

 to which I would invite a reference. Cowgill. 



Sex of the Moon and Sun (Vol. v., p. 468. ; 

 Vol. vi., p. 61.). — Are your correspondents aware 

 that the Moon was formerly considered to be of 

 the masculine gender, and the Sun of the feminine ? 

 Such, however, was the case in all the ancient 

 Teutonic languages, as it was in the old Norse. 

 In the Volu-spd it is said : 



*' But the Sun had not yet learned to trace 

 The path that conducts to her dwelling place : 

 To the Moon arrived not was the hour 

 When lie should exert his mystic pow'r : 

 Nor to the Stars was the knowledge given. 

 To marshal their ranks o'er the fields of heaven." 



In the Prose Edda, also, it is stated, that " there 

 was formerly a man named Mundilfari, who had 

 two children, so lovely and graceful, that he called 

 the male Mani (Sw. mane, Dan. maane, Maeso-Goth. 

 7nena, Alemann. mdno), and the female Sol, who 

 was espoused to a man named Glenur." These 

 two children the gods " placed in the heavens, 

 and let Sol drive the horses that draw the car of 

 the Sun, whilst Mani was set to guide the Moon in 

 his course, and regulate his increasing and waning 

 aspect." 



There is a curious note on this subject by 

 Sharon Turner (Hist Ang. Sax., edit. 1823, vol. i. 

 p. 213.), in which it is shown that the same pecu- 

 liarity existed in Arabia, Hindustan, amongst the 

 Caribbees, and elsewhere, as well as with our own 

 Anglo-Saxon progenitors, of whose usage in this 

 respect he cites examples from Cotton MSS., 



Tib. A. ill. p. 63. Nor did it cease with them, at 

 least as to tlie Sun, for in The Vision of Pierce 

 Ploughman (Pass, xviii. fol. c. b. edit. 1550) we 

 read: 



" And lo how the sunne gan lacke her light in herselfe 

 When she see Him suffer," &c. 



Grimm (Dent. Mythol. p. 664.) tells us that, in 

 some parts of Germany, people were wont to speak 

 of " Frau Sonne " and " Ilerr Mond," and he 

 quotes the popular saying, " Frau Sonne geht zu 

 rast und gnaden." He also remarks that, at Sal- 

 zach, " Her Man " is in everybody's mouth when 

 referring to the Moon. Cowgili>. 



The Royal "TFe" (Vol. v., p. 489.; Vol. yl., 

 p. 61.). — Sir Edward Coke is wrong; not King 

 John, but Richard Coeur de Lion, was the first of 

 our monarchs who adopted this imperial style, as 

 the following example proves : 



" RicARDUs Dei Gratia Rex Anglie, Dux Normanie, 

 Aquitanie, Comes Andegavie, Archiepiscopis, &c. 

 Salutem. Sciatis nos concessisse civibus nostris Nor- 

 wiceiisibus, &c. Concessimus etiam eis, &c. Quarc 

 VoLUMUs et firmiter Precipimus, &c. Data apud Po- 

 tesmutam, per manus W. de Longo-campo, Elyen. 

 Episcopi, Cancellarii nostri, quinto Die Maii, Regni 

 nostri anno Quinto," i. e. 5th May, 1193. 



Henry II., in his charter to the city, ann. 1182, 

 uses the form, " Sciatis me concessisse. . . . 

 Quare volo et firmiter precipio," &c. See Blome- 

 field's History of Norwich, fol. 1741, pp. 24. 26. 



Coke was Recorder of Norwich, and it is strange 

 that he should have made this mistake, as tlie 

 above-recited charter, the original of which is still 

 in a perfect state, must, one would suppose, have 

 come under his notice. Cowgill. 



Etymology of Sycophant (Vol. vi., p. 151.). — 

 The etymology you quote from Brande is the 

 common one, and supported by old authorities ; 

 but it agrees very ill with either of the meanings 

 assigned to the word calumniator or flatterer. I 

 have never met the word in any other sense than 

 a mean flatterer. As hierophant is an announcer 

 of holy things, may not sycophant be a speaker of 

 words sweet and luscious as figs ? As we say 

 sugared words, honied tongue, an Athenian might 

 say a sycophant. C. 



Blindman's Holiday (Vol. v., p. 587.). — W.H.C. 

 has inquired respecting this expression. Lord 

 Bollngbroke used to say that on any important 

 point he always liked to " consult a sensible 

 woman," and one may do so witli advantage on 

 almost any affiiir. I therefore asked a lady what 

 she thought about " Blindman's Holiday," and I 

 think she has given the clue to the origin of the 

 expression. She told me that In eai-ly life she 

 remembered well a dependent female relative, tliafc 

 was an inmate of her father's house, but who could 



