312 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2nd s. v. 120., April 17. 



'58. 



a distinct deviation not thoroughly explained ; 

 towards the adjacent sedilia there is a small 

 aperture, apparently for the hand to pass from 

 the occupant of the first seat to the bowl. This 

 may have given rise to the unseemly practice 

 of one person immersing the finger in the stoup, 

 and then applying it to the fingers of some five or 

 six persons in succession, this being deemed suf- 

 ficient for the rite of crossing with holy water. 

 A small bracket is occasionally found attached to 

 the east wall near, or at the angle by the piscena, 

 and probably intended for a lamp, as in the village 

 churches of Buckenham, and more particularly at 

 Bradiston, and in many other churches in Norfolk. 



Sepulchres. — Very few examples of a perma- 

 nent Easter sepulchre now remain, certainly not 

 sufficient in number to warrant the assumption 

 that they were executed in durable materials. 

 The finest example known, and that is a gem in 

 architecture, is in the church of the village of 

 Northwold, in Norfolk. This elaborate work is 

 in the style usually distinguished as " Late Per- 

 pendicular." Very full particulars of this sepul- 

 chre will be found in vol. iv. p. 120. of the Nor- 

 folk Archeology, where references are made to 

 some minor examples : one in Lincoln cathedral, 

 another in Heckington church, and one in the 

 church of Stanton St. John, Oxfordshire. 



The Hour Glass. — This imperfect sketch of the 

 disused appliances would be more incomplete 

 without some notice of this diminutive, but ad- 

 monitory, accompaniment to the pulpit. Very 

 many examples of the iron frame for receiving the 

 glass still remain ; but the utility being only to 

 warn the preacher of the length of his discourse 

 may with propriety be questioned, and the sug- 



festion offered that they were applied as a moral 

 y the preacher, and symbolised the rapid stream 

 of our days to the descending grains. One of 

 these iron frames, from Bradeston, was exhibited 

 at the meeting of the Norfolk Archaeological So- 

 ciety on Nov. 19, 1857. In South Burlingham 

 church the iron frame on the pulpit still retains a 

 hour glass. 



Stoup. — This is seldom enriched by carving or 

 sculpture ; the bowl is large, and frequently placed 

 in the porch, as at Langley ; but more generally 

 within the churches, as at Great Plumstead. In 

 Belgium they are made decided architectural fea- 

 tures, as at Willebrock, where it is formed in a 

 niche in one of the western columns ; and at 

 Winxele, where it is supported on a highly en- 

 riched boss. Henet D'Aveney. 



chAp literature and foi-k lore. 



^ Of late years, just as Chap-book literature is 

 disappearing, it has excited much attention and 

 interest, yet there does not appear to be any work 



on the subject, though the way has been prepared 

 by Mr. Halliwell's Catalogue of Chap Books, Gar- 

 lands, and Popular Histories (privately printed), 

 1849," and his work on the origin of Nursery 

 Rhymes ; also by Mr. Thoms's Early Evglish 

 Prose Romances, and the works of Percy, Ritson, 

 Evans, Ellis, &c. A translation of M. Nizard's 

 report, with a companion volume on English 

 Folk Lore, would be very welcome. Mr. Burns 

 set a good example some twelve or fifteen years 

 ago, by publishing cheap and beautiful editions of 

 Nursery Tales and Rhymes, Famous Histories, 

 Pleasant Stories, Popular Legends, and Fairy 

 Tales, &c. But it would be hard now to get a 

 good and cheap copy of The Seven Champions, or 

 The Knights of the Round Table. Any such that 

 have any preface or editorial care, are generally 

 printed in a costly and archaeological form, as a 

 mere antiquarian toy or curiosity, accessible to 

 few. Jack the Giant-Killer has had the good for- 

 tune to appear a few years ago in a hafiflsome 

 quarto form, enriched with the admirable designs 

 of Mr. Richard Doyle, and published, I think, at 

 half-a-crown. 



As the Golden Legend lingers in the Seven 

 Champions, so the old Norse Mythology breathes 

 its last sigh in the nursery tale of Jack the Giant- 

 Killer. As Mr. Carlyle eloquently laments : 



" It is all gone now, that old Norse work, — Th(»- the 

 Thundergod changed into Jack the Giant-Killer : but the 

 mind that made it is here yet. How strangely things 

 grow, and die, and do not die ! There are twigs of that 

 great World- tree of Norse Belief still curiously traceable. 

 This poor Jack of the Nursery, with his miraculous shoes 

 of swiftness, coat of darkness, sword of sharpness, — he 

 is one. Ghilde Etin, in the Scottish Ballads, is a Norse 

 Mythus ; Etin was a lotun. Nay, Shakspeare's Hamlet 

 is a twig too of this same World-tree. Hamlet, Andeth, 

 I find, is really a mythic personage ; and his Tragedy, of 

 the poisoned Father, poisoned asleep by drops in his ear, 

 and the rest, is a Norse Mythus ! Old Saxo, as his wont 

 was, made it a Danish history ; Shakspeare, out of Saxo, 

 made it what we see." — Led. on Heroes, Sfc, 6th May, 

 1840. (2nd edit. p. 56.) . 



This Note was suggested by seeing in " N. & 

 Q." (Feb. 6) an advertisement headed "Chap 

 Books, Penny Histories, Garlands, and Jest 

 Books ; " announcing a Lecture to be delivered 

 in Sussex Hall on Feb. 12, "On the Popular 

 Literature of the Last Century." I have heard 

 nothing of it since. Eirionnach. 



NOTE ON NEWTON S APPIiE. 



Newton's apple has lately been brought into 

 prominent notice before the London public. I 

 suppose all persons who are conversant with the 

 history of science know that the apple, (if it was 

 an apple,) had little to do with the discovery. 

 But it may be worth while to make a Note on the 

 history of this tale. Pemberton, who received 



