310 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[■2°'i S. V. 120., Ai'itiL 17. '58. 



In like manner we find the auxiliary a placed 

 last in media3val French : — 



«« la belle Flora 



Les champs converts de diverses fleuis a." 



" . . . . puis chacun apella, 

 Chantant ces vers que composez elle a." 



C. Margot. 



" Composez a" for "a composez." So, in the 

 present instance, " gon a" for "a gon" (or have 

 gone) : " Though that hir soules gon a blake 

 beried," i. e. " Though that their souls have gone 

 black-bier'd." 



The sense then of Chaucer's couplet well be, " I 

 reck not, when they are laid in the earth, though 

 their scant obsequies have betokened their souls 

 unblessed." Their souls are said to have gone 

 black-bier'd, because the black bier intimated that 

 the deceased had left nought behind him for the 

 purchase of those rites which secured the soul's 

 repose. Thomas Bots. 



GEORGE III. AND HIS MERINO SHEEF. 



It is well known that this illustrious and pa- 

 triot sovereign directed very earnestly his atten- 

 tion to agriculture and the general pursuits of 

 farming. In 1790 he ploughed up great part of 

 Richmond New Park, and brought it into tillage, 

 at the same time holding the Old Park entirely 

 in pasturage, and also a large tract of arable land 

 called Keele's Farm, near tlie New Park, in which 

 he erected all kinds of farm buildings. With a 

 view to improve the wool of this country he im- 

 ported, at two or three times, a considerable 

 quantity of the best Merino sheep of the Negrette 

 and Paular breeds from Spain, and in 1791, 2214 

 were sent from thence, of which one-fifth died 

 cither at sea or on the journey from Portsmouth 

 to Kew. For a long time after their introduction 

 here tliey did not meet with the least countenance 

 from the English farmers, and the butchers also 

 were averse to them.* The highest price they 

 fetched during thirteen years was six guineas for 

 rams and two for ewes, by private sale. But in 

 1804 a remarkable era in the annals of auc- 

 tioneering was decreed to take place. In the 

 town of liichmond there was settled a Mr. John 

 Farnham, as an ironmonger, — a man endowed 

 by nature with superior talents, and abilities for 

 almost everything. Mr. Farnham sedulously ap- 

 plied himself to obtain a knowledge of the dif- 

 ferent agricultural processes carried on at the 

 King's farm, and particularly directed his atten- 

 tion to the royal flock of Merino sheep. He was 

 favourably mentioned to his majesty, who had an 

 interview with him ; and at the suggestion of 

 Mr. Farnham he determined to reduce his stock 

 by annual sales, and left the selection of the lots 

 to him, whom he installed in the office of his 



auctioneer, and in whom he ever afterwards placed 

 the fullest confidence. 



On Wednesday, August 15, 1804, Mr. Farn- 

 ham had his first sale near the Pagoda in the Kew 

 Gardens, when Lot 27, a full-mouthed ram, four- 

 toothed, fetched 38 guineas. August 16, 1805, 

 and August 19, 1806, the sales were repeated, 

 and with greatly improved results. About this 

 time Mr. Farnham died, but he had so established 

 the fame of these sheep that his successor ob- 

 tained, on August 11, 1807, for rams, upon the 

 average, 21L, and ewes 191. The illness of his 

 majesty supervened in the latter end of 1809, and 

 we do not find any later sale than that of July 25, 

 1810, when the Morning Herald of the following 

 day gives the prices brought as follow : — Thirty- 

 six rams at 58/. a- piece on an average. Colonel 

 Searle gave 173 guineas for one, and the prices 

 ranged between that and 23 guineas. There 

 were seventy ewes, which on the average fetched 

 37/. 8«. each. 



In the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Ixxvii., June, 

 1807, p. 590., there is a short account of Mr. 

 Farnham upon his decease, and his extraordinary 

 abilities are noticed. For an account of these 

 sheep, see Communications to the Board of Agri- 

 culture, vol. vi. part ii. pp. 269—286. 4to, 1810. 

 " Circumstances relative to Merino Sheep, by 

 the lit. Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., K.B." I 

 beg to be informed if the wool of this particular 

 species of sheep has continued to enjoy its great 

 reputation, or if it has degenerated in this country. 



*. 



Kiclimond, Surrey. 



ON THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES UPON 

 THE DETAILS OF ECCLESIASTICAL ARCHITECTURE. 



Many of the most admired details of church 

 architecture claim their origin from certain usages 

 or observances followed in the administration 

 of the prevalent rites and ceremonies in the 

 church. No inconsiderable portion of these cere- 

 monies are now obsolete, or abolished either by 

 sufferance or command, and a consequent disuse 

 of the requisite appendages follows as a matter of 

 positive necessity. The architectural portion of 

 this question certainly is most interesting; but the 

 rise, progress, and decline of the several usages 

 from which they had their origin is very far from 

 exciting a less proportionate desire for investiga- 

 tion. Adhering, therefore, solely to the prin- 

 ciples of architecture, it is most desirable that this 

 short notice should be followed by a correspond- 

 ing history of the now forsaken rites of w^hich 

 these vestiges will soon be the sole remaining evi- 

 dences. In the churches of an early period these 

 details must be considered as adjuncts, while in 

 those of the later period they constituted portions 



