2"" S. V. 125., May 22. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



410 



heavenly powers, lie raised himself above the things of 

 the world; and, putting a force on the nature which 

 weighs down to things below, he dwelt in the upper air ; 

 and holding a middle station between heaven and earth, 

 he conversed with God, and glorified him with the angels. 

 From earth he offered to God the regards of men ; but 

 from heaven he brought down the good will of those 

 above to men." 



But Evagrlus descends from these heights, to 

 tell a matter of fact. He had himself seen the 

 preserved head of Simeon Stylites at Antioch, and 

 an iron-collar, which was so affectionately attached 

 to the man that it would not quit him though 

 dead, but shared his honours. He calls it iK cnSi]- 

 pov K\oi6s. The expression does not exclude the 

 idea of having a chain connected with it, and is 

 translated by Valois, " catena ferrea." Perhaps 

 less reverential eyes would have seen in this closely 

 adhering collar and chain, the means by which 

 Stylites had been preserved from falling off his 

 pillar when he slept. H. Walter. 



THE WALLS OF TBOT. 



(2"'^ S. v.211.) 



It is always a disagreeable task to be compelled 

 to aid in breaking in rudely upon an individual 

 when he is indulging in a reverie of an agreeable 

 character, however false the imagery his brain 

 has conjured up may be ; what, then, must be the 

 position of that daring man who presumes to 

 thrust himself between a Principality and an illu- 

 sion which the said Principality has fondly grasped, 

 and believed to be a reality for many centuries ? 

 Nevertheless, truth will ever be a grand cheval 

 de hataille on such occasions, and is certain to 

 present us with the palm eventually, although we 

 may be temporarily sadly mauled in the melee with 

 fiction and her innumerable followers. 



Drych y Prif Oesoedd is once more in the 

 press, but the editor is sorely puzzled what he is 

 to say under the head of " Caerdroia," or figures 

 of Troy-town cut in Welsh turf! The* people of 

 Wales is an ancient people; but as it yet remains 

 to be proved that the Cymri were the first immi- 

 grants of Britain, it is quite possible some other 

 of the many tribes or portions of tribes that 

 gradually overspread this island through succes- 

 sive continental pressures of a disagreeable cha- 

 racter, may have done us and themselves the 

 honour of arriving upon the British shore before. 

 I much fear, however, that no^e can boast with 

 truth of any connexion with Troy, so we need 

 scarcely fall out on that point ; and the touching 

 allusion of W. H. M. to the habit of cutting plans 

 of the deeply-regretted city of Asia on the turf of 

 the remote European asylum that alone remained 

 open to some of the refugees from that long- 

 beleaguered city, must vanish at once into thin 

 air, as Venus and Creusa, ^c. were accustomed to 

 do. 



Moreover it is sad to find that Wales is not 

 peculiar in possessing turf mazes, termed " Troy- 

 towns," nor even are such works confined to the 

 modern counties said to have been peopled by the 

 Cymri. There are examples of these in the 

 counties of North Hants, Rutland, Lincoln, and 

 Essex ; also in the memory of man, in those of 

 York and Notts ; and as Cumberland and Devon 

 have also been found to possess similar works, we 

 must conclude that they were pretty evenly dis- 

 tributed over the surface of England, but I be- 

 lieve they are not found in Bretagne ; at least I 

 have made inquiries in France of several of the best 

 French authorities upon this subject, and have not 

 been able to find any grass mazes there, although 

 architectural ones are rather numerous, both in 

 France and in Italy. These works, upon which 

 W. H. M. begs for information, were first called 

 " Troy-towns " in the Tudor days, when " sub- 

 telties " of all kinds were in vogue, and was a 

 term simply indicative of the difficulties required 

 to be overcome before the centre of such laby- 

 rinths could be reached ; previously they had 

 been termed " Jerusalem ways " and " Paths of 

 Heaven." Still I do not mean to claim a mar- 

 vellously early origin on the part of my peculiar 

 proteges, turf-mazes, in common with Dr. Stuke- 

 ley and others, who dubbs them " Roman," be- 

 cause they are decidedly of Mediaeval date ; the 

 earliest I know of anywhere being one of the 

 twelfth century, and because they were cut for 

 penitential purposes, by ecclesiastics, not by 

 Greeks, Romans, or Cymri. 



Many a weary knee has traced out the sinuous 

 windings of these al fresco mazes, and many an 

 Ave-Maria and Pater has fallen from the lips of 

 panting friars and other penitents at the turnings 

 of their winding paths, previous to the Reform- 

 ation. In the time of Elizabeth, however, they 

 were dedicated to distinctly lay purposes ; and 

 dancing feet, instead of reverential knees, pur- 

 sued their winding paths, as alluded to by Shak- 

 speare in the Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II. 

 Sc. 2.: — 



" The nine men's morris is filled up with mud, 

 And the quaint mazes in the wanton green, 

 For lack of tread, are undistinguishable." 



Shepherds never made such clever designs, but 

 we are deeply grateful to them for having em- 

 ployed their leisure in recutting them from time 

 to time. Neither are we indebted to fairies (as 

 some believe) for these curious relics of the past. 

 Having arrived at the conclusion of my answer to 

 W. H. M., which is, I fear, somewhat lengthy, I 

 feel compelled to exclaim with Gonzalo {Tempest ^ 

 Act III. Sc. 3.) : — 



" My old bones ache : here's a maze trod, indeed, 

 Through forth-rights, and meanders ! by your patience, 

 I must needs rest me." 



P.S.— If your correspondent, in return for this 



