Jax. 29. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



105 



Gryphea incurva. — In the course of conversation 

 with an old man in the county of Warwick, relative 

 to ancient customs, he related to me as a fact 

 within his own knowledge, that the pretty round 

 «tone shell, as he termed it (picking one up at the 

 rsame time), a specimen of the Gryphea incurva, or 

 Devil's Thumb, as it is frequently called, which is 

 found in considerable quantities in the gravel beds 

 of that county, when prepared in a certain manner 

 — calcined, I believe — is a certain specific for this 

 complaint in its most obstinate form. Indeed, he 

 related to me some very extraordinary cures which 

 jhe had himself witnessed. 



Donkey. — A certain number of hairs taken from 

 the black cross on the shoulders of a donkey, and 

 put into a small bag made of black silk, and worn 

 round a child's neck afflicted with the complaint, 

 is a never-failing remedy. T. B. Whitbobne. 



^innx §,aXti. 



Epitaph in Tynemouth churchyard : 

 " Wha lies here ? 

 Pate Watt, gin ye speer. 

 Poor Pate ! is that thou ? 

 Ay, by my soul, is 't ; 

 But I's dead now." 



J. Mn. 



Epitaph composed by an old gardener at Ilder- 

 iton, Northumberland, for his own tombstone : 

 ^' Under this stone lies Bobbity John, 



Who, when alive, to tlie world was a wonder ; 



And would have been so yet, had not Death in a fit 



Cut his soul and his body asunder." 



J. Mn. 



Nostradamus on the Gold-diggings. — Nostra- 

 <daraus (physician to Henry II, of France) has the 

 following among his prophecies (p. 33.) : 

 " Las, qu'on verra grand peuple tourmente 

 Et la loy sainte en totale ruine. 

 Par autres Loix toute la Christianite, 



Quand d'or, d'argent trouve nouvelle mine." 



Garencieres translates thus : 



"" Alas ! how a great people shall be tormented, 

 And the holy law in an utter ruin ; 

 By other laws all eliristendom be troubled. 

 When new mines of gold and silver shall be found." 



Agbicola de Monte. 



Whimsical Bequest. — Is the following cutting 

 from the Ipsivich Journal of January 8th, 1853, 

 worth preserving in your pages ? 



" Whimsical Bequest. — On Saturday last, the un- 

 anarried of whatever age and sex, numbering between 

 800 and 900 residents in the parish of St. Leonard's, 

 ■Colchester, received their new year's gift in tlie shape 

 "of ' a penny roll,' bequeathed to them in days of yore. 



under the following singular circumstances : — Many 

 years ago, a piece of waste land, called ' Knave's 

 Acre,' in the parish of St. Leonard's, was used as a play- 

 ground by the boys of this and the adjacent parish of 

 St. Mary Magdalen ; but one day, the young gentle- 

 men falling out, the affair ended in a regular 'fight;' 

 and the result was that the boys of St. Leonard's van- 

 quished tlieir opponents, and ever after remained victors 

 of the field. The ground was subsequently let for 

 gardening purposes; but the owner, in perpetual re- 

 membrance of the juvenile victory, whimsically be- 

 queathed its annual rent of 4.1. to be appropriated in 

 the manner above mentioned." 



J. B. COLMAN. 



The Orkneys in Pawn. — Dr. Clarke mentions a 

 curious circumstance, which was related to him in 

 Norway, by Bernard Auker, of Christiana. He 

 stated that Great Britain had the Orkney Islands 

 only in pawn. Looking over some old deeds and 

 records, belonging to the Danish crown, at Copen- 

 hagen, Mr. Auker found that these islands were 

 consigned to England, in lieu of a dowry for a 

 Danish princess, married to one of our English 

 kings, upon condition that these islands should be 

 restored to Denmark whenever the debt for which 

 they were pledged should be discharged. There- 

 fore, as the price of land, and the value of money, 

 have undergone such considerable alteration since 

 this period, it is in the power of Denmark, for a 

 very small sum, to claim possession of the Orkneys, 



KlRKWALLENSIS. 



Lord Duff's Toast. — Having made a consider- 

 able collection of old Scots almanacks, I find occa- 

 sionally on the waste papers at the beginnings and 

 ends some curious notes : they, however, chiefly 

 refer to the weather, crops, fairs, and prices of 

 corn, starting-hours of coaches, &c. I find the 

 following toast noted on the New Scots Almanack 

 for 1802 : I send it to " N, & Q,," not knowing if 

 it ever has been in print : 



<' LORD DUirr's TOAST A.D. '45. 



A. B, C. - - A Blessed Change. 



D. E. F. - - Down Every Foreigner. 3 



G. H. J. - - God Help James. 



K. L. M. - - Keep Lord Marr. 



N. O. P. - - Noble Ormond Preserve. 



Q. R. S. - - Quickly llesolve Stewart. 



T. U. V. W. - Truss Up Vile Whigs. 



X. Y. Z. . - 'Xert Your Zeal." 



S. Wmson. 



^wtxiti. 



TUB METEORIC STONE OF THE THBACIAN CHEB- 



SONESUS. 



In the Quarterly Review just published, the 

 reviewer, in tlie course of an interesting article on 

 " Meteors, Aerolites, and Shooting Stars," makes a 

 suggestion which, if admitted into " N. & Q.," may 



