456 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 159. 



A mind diseased is worse than death. 



An ox is bound by his horns, a man by his words. 



Cowai ds should stop at home, j 



In a sluggard's house all must go to the dogs. 



If you act without judgment, fear the consequences. 



It is by soft words and kind actions you will win 

 your point. 



It is out of a thiefs power to rob a naked man. 



It is in time of danger you will know your friend. 



No one performs a service without a hope of re- 

 ward. 



There is more reliance to be placed on the word of 

 a Maltese than on the oath of a prince. 



Never undertake a work without thinking how it is 

 to terminate. 



That man is a savage who eats your bread and then 

 slanders you. 



A person who is never in love is sure to be fat. 



Who does not like to work with Christians shall 

 labour with slaves. 



To drink pure water you must seek the fountain 

 head. 



You know not your man before you converse with 

 him. 



The Maltese have many proverbs among them 

 of Arabic origin, which have come down for cen- 

 turies unmutilated, and will be found to contain 

 as much " salt, significance, and true sense," as 

 those of any other people. With the common 

 class they are so numerous as to form a " species 

 of national code," and are quoted on all occasions. 



W.W. 



Malta. 



Customary Freeholds in Cumberland. — Probably 

 most of your readers are aware that a customary 

 tenure exists in Cumberland similar in some of its 

 incidents to copyholds, but in others quite pecu- 

 liar, and considerably more burdensome. (See 

 Hutchinson's Cumberland, &c.) In none of the 

 books I have consulted are these incidents given 

 with any exactness. I think it therefore worth 

 recording in your columns the following incidents 

 of the tenure, as they at present prevail in a manor 

 in the neighbourhood of Keswick. 



All the petty freeholds are ultimately held under 

 the lord of the manor, whose profits are as follows : 

 He receives from each tenant a trifling yearly 

 payment, amounting in the whole manor to some 

 ten pounds yearly. When any tenant dies, a fine 

 (equal in amount to two years' profits) is paid to 

 the lord by the successor (whether he take as heir 

 or purchaser). When any tenant mortgages his 

 land, he pays to the lord sixpence on every pound 

 he borrows : for instance, on a mortgage for two 

 hundred pounds, the lord will get five pounds. 

 When the lord dies, every tenant pays to the new 

 lord the fine of two years' profits. Each tenant 

 must yearly lend the lord for one day the use of a 



man and cart, or of a mower (a man and scythe) ; 

 in default paj"^ a fine of two shillings. The lord is 

 bound to feed such man on that day. Every 

 Easter each tenant must present to the lord a hen, 

 or forfeit tenpence. They generally give him 

 some old worthless bird ; for, unluckily for the 

 lord, tliere is no rule as to quality. The lord of 

 the manor is obliged to keep a stallion, a bull, and 

 a boar, for the use of his tenants. P. M. M. 



" Beauty and Booty" — I was much surprised 

 lately, in looking over the tenth volume of Sir A. 

 Alison's History, that he had given insertion to 

 this vile calumny against the memory of the late 

 gallant Sir Edward Pakenham, who fell at New 

 Orleans. I had fancied that this story, which 

 appears to have been circulated by some low 

 Americans (low in mind, if not in station) and 

 renegade Britons, had received its coup-de-gruce 

 from the declaration of the five senior surviving 

 officers of the British force present there, which 

 was published in 1833 : and it appears the more 

 strange, as Sir Archibald has been a contributor 

 to, and I suppose also a reader of, Blackwood for 

 twenty years past and upwards, that he did not 

 remember the article on Stuart of Duncarn's Three 

 Years in America in that periodical, vol. xxxv., at 

 p. 430. of which he will find the declaration afore- 

 said at full length : but Sir Archibald, though he 

 does not imitate Mr. Stuart in doing his best to 

 prove the soldiei'S of his country poltroons, is quite 

 as much inclined to believe the worst of them in 

 other respects ; witness his remarks on the storm- 

 ing of Saint Sebastian, in which he appears to 

 suppose that the British soldiers were alone guilty 

 of all the atrocities committed, including oflencea 

 of a nature infinitely more frequent in the south 

 of Europe than amongst us. He must surely have 

 known that the storming force was not composed 

 of them alone. 



The edition I have seen is the first, but this was 

 published many years after 1833, and even the 

 first edition of " a work of twenty years" should 

 be free from these errors. I have seen no sub- 

 sequent edition, and perhaps the above passage 

 has been since expunged. J. S. Warden, 



Convocation. — The following episode in the 

 passing the Act of Submission is just now of so 

 much significance, that I think it will be worth 

 while for your readers to " make a note of it," as 

 I have done. 



" On Feb. II, the archbishop brought in a further 

 qualification ; letting the clergy know the king was 

 contented it should run EcclesicB et Cleri Anglicani, 

 ciijus singularem Protectorem, uniciim et supremum {Do- 

 minum et quantum per Christi legem licet, etiam supre- 

 mum) caput, ipsins Majestatem recognoscimus. And with 

 this salvo the Supreme Headship was acknowledged. 

 However, still with some reluctance : for when, upon 



