Dec. 18. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



591 



Rhyming Rats to Death (Vol. vi., p. 460.). — 

 Possibly the two following allusions to the custom 

 of rhyming rats to death may be of some use to 

 your querist M. M. : 



" The Irishirs believe that their children and cattel 

 are 'eybitten' when they suddenly fall sick, and call 

 these sort of witches ' eybiters,' and believe that they 

 can rime any man or beast to death." — Reginald 

 Scott's JDiscoverie of Witchcraft. Black-letter, 1584. 



And also in As You Like It, Act III. So. 2., Ko- 

 salind says, evidently alluding to the same super- 

 stition : 



" I was never so berhymed since Pythagoras' time, 

 that I was an Irish rat, which I can hardly remember." 



G. H. KiNGSLEY. 



Exterior Stoups (Vol. v., p. 560. ; Vol. vi., pp. 

 19. 86. 160.). — There is an exterior stoup on the 

 western wall of the ruined church of Kilmolash, 

 in the county of Waterford, Ireland. It is placed 

 at the left (north) side of the entrance ; which, 

 strange to say, is not in the centre, under the 

 small western window, but is nearly close to the 

 southern wall of the church. I do not remember 

 any similar instance. 



The stoup projects considerably from the wall : 

 it is of unusual shape, resembling a corbel hollowed 

 into a circular basin. For canopy, it has a plain 

 flag-stone. H. Cotton. 



Thurles. 



Those who are in search for exterior stoups 

 would do well to bear in mind that an Interior 

 stoup becomes an exterior one, when the porcb 

 which has inclosed it is removed. This is the case 

 at Lydd Church, Kent ; where there is, on the 

 south side, what might otherwise be mistaken for 

 the place of an exterior stoup. E. M. 



There is one on the right-hand side at the enter- 

 ing in of the tower of Earls Colne Church, Essex. 



C. K. P. 

 Newport, Essex. 



Christopher Harvie, Author of the ^^ Synagogue " 

 ^'School of the Heart" Src. (Vol. vi., p. 463.).— 

 The Editor of « N. & Q." has quoted Sir Harris 

 Nicolas from a note to Walton's Angler, which 

 is correct ; but Sir Harris might have said, proves 

 satisfactorily the author of the Synagogue instead 

 of " goes very near." In the advertisement pre- 

 fixed to the Synagogue, printed at the end of 

 Pickering's edition of George Herbert's Poems, will 

 be found a few more particulars of the author and 

 of his works. W. 



Trafalgar (Vol. vi., pp. 362. 438.). — • In your 

 Vol. vi., p. 362., W. T. M. inquires about the right 

 pronunciation of Trafalgar, as to whether the 

 accent should be placed on the second syllable or 



the third. This has been fully answered by A. 

 Gatty and C. H. Cooper, at p. 438., Vol. vi. of "N. 

 & Q.," ; but only as to the pi'actice and not the 

 principle, which surely should be considered, and 

 I apprehend is this : — It is the genius or habit of 

 our language to place the accent of trisyllables 

 mostly on the first, sometimes on the second, but 

 hardly ever on the third : while, in the Spanish or 

 Portuguese, at least in words ending with a con- 

 sonant, it is almost invariably on the latter. Ac- 

 cordingly, when Trafalgar was first brought into 

 notice by the battle (1805), it was generally pro- 

 nounced anglicater Trafalgar ; till observed that 

 the Spanish pronunciation was Trafalgar, like 

 Espanol, Escorial, Gibraltar, &c. Neither, there- 

 fore, is exclusively right nor absolutely wrong : 

 but, as the true principle (though this has never 

 yet been determined) is rather to follow the local or 

 aboriginal pronunciation of names, Trafalgar seems 

 to be the latter, as also it is that now generally 

 followed. M. M. 



Athenzeum. 



Arms of Robertson (Vol. v., p. 346.). — Your 

 Note (Vol. vi., p. 461.) reminds me that no one has 

 answered the Query. 



The Robertsons of Strowan bear : gu. three 

 wolves' heads erased, ar, armed and langued az. 

 Crest, a cubit arm erect, holding a regal crown, all 

 ppr. 



Duncan, the son of Robert, chief of the clan, 

 having apprehended the murderers of James I. of 

 Scotland, James II. granted to his family the 

 above crest. The man in chains, lying under the 

 escutcheon of arms, was also adopted in comme- 

 moration of the event. C. K. P. 



Newport, Essex. 



Portrait of Collins (Vol. vi., p. 291.). — On 

 looking over a file of the Morning Chronicle for 

 1799, some time since, I noticed an advertisement 

 of a portrait of Collins for sale. It was stated to 

 be the only one in existence, and to have belonged 

 to the poet's sister. As no answer has yet appeared 

 to the Query of Magdalensis, the above may- 

 give him a clue as to its present possessor ; and 'I 

 much regret being unable to give him the exact 

 reference, having mislaid the note I made at the 

 time. H. G. D. 



Knightsbridge. 



[There is a portrait of Collins (atatis 1 4), from a 

 drawing formerly in the possession of William Seward, 

 Esq., prefixed to Pickering's Aldine edition of Collins.} 



ChurchiWs Death (Vol. vi., p. 484.). — It is to 

 be regretted that any correspondent of " N. & Q.'* 

 should raise a doubt, without telling us on what 

 authority that doubt rests. B. G. {ante, p. 484.) 

 " believes it will be found, upon proper inquiry," 

 that Churchill died at Dover. As B. G., it must 



