200 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 174. 



the dally auctions arising out of the migratory 

 habits or the mortality to which the residents in 

 that city are subject ; and it would somewhat 

 astonish our Sothebys and Putticks to see the ex- 

 tent of these sales of literary property, and derange 

 their tympanums to hear the clamorous competition 

 among the aforesaid half-naked dealers for lots 

 not catalogued with their bibliographical preci- 

 sion. The books thus purchased, I may further 

 observe, are subject to the overhaul of the better- 

 informed of the tribe before they make their ap- 

 pearance In the streets ; when deficiencies are made 

 good, bindings vamped, and lettering attempted : 

 finally, they are placed in the hands of the hawk- 

 ers, when the following peculiarities are detect- 

 able : — where a title or last leaf may have been 

 wanting, these Calcutta editions occasionally dis- 

 play a prophane book with a sacred title ; or a 

 pious treatise, for the sake of the word " Finis," 

 made complete by affixing the last leaf of Tristram 

 Shandy or the Devil on l^wo Sticks ! Less intel- 

 ligent jobbers will open their book, and, finding 

 the first word " Preface," clap it incontinently in 

 gilt letters on the back ! I leave the imagination 

 of the reader to fill up the cross-readings which 

 would likely result from such practices, and revert 

 to my anecdote, which I had almost lost sight of. 



Some twenty years ago, then, the dingy tribes 

 were startled, and the auctioneer gratified by the 

 appearance of a new face in the bidders^ box — 

 a brisk little European, who contested every lot, 

 aiming, apparently, at a monopoly in the second- 

 hand book trade. Shortly thereafter, this in- 

 dividual, having located himself In a commanding 

 position, came forth in the daily papers as a can- 

 didate for public favour ; and, in allusion to the 

 reformation he contemplated, and his sovereign 

 contempt for his black brethren, headed his ad- 

 dress, to the no small amusement of the lieges, in 

 the Falstoffian vein : 



" . . No eyes hath seen such scarecrows. 

 I'll not march thro' Coventry with them, that's flat !" 



This joke was no doubt thrown away upon his 

 Hindoo and Mussulman rivals, but, alas for the 

 reformer ! he little knew the cold indifference of 

 the Anglo-Indian about such matters, and, as 

 might have been expected, he failed in establish- 

 ing himself in business, and ultimately fell a victim 

 to the climate. Of the previous history of this 

 one, among ten thousand, who have left their 

 bones in the land of cholera, I know nothing 

 beyond the fact that he was a son of Thomas 

 Holcroft, a dramatist of repute in his day. J. O. 



FOLK LOKE. 



Subte7'ranean Bells (Vol. vii., p. 128.). — The 

 tower and nave of Tunstall Church, Norfolk, are 

 in ruins ; the chancel alone being used for divine 



service. The village tradition says, that this 

 calamity was caused by fire ; and that the parson 

 and churchwardens quarreled for the possession 

 of the bells which were uninjured. During their 

 altercation, the arch-fiend walked off with the sub- 

 jects of dispute ; but being pursued, and over- 

 taken by the parson — who began to exorcise in 

 Latin — he made a way through the earth to his 

 appointed dwelling-place, taking them with him. 

 The spot where this took place is now a boggy 

 pool of water, called Hell Hole ; and an adjoin- 

 ing clump of alder-trees is called Hell Carr. In 

 summer time, a succession of bubbles — doubtless 

 caused by marsh gas — keep constantly appearing 

 on the surface. Those who believe in the tra- 

 dition, find in this circumstance a strong confirm- 

 ation. For, as it is the entrance to the bottomless 

 pit, the bells must be descending still ; and the 

 bubbles would necessarily be caused by bells 

 sinking in water. 



In the adjoining village of Halvergate, on the 

 largest bell, is the following inscription ; 



" Sit cunctis annis, 

 Nobis avita Johs." 



I suppose this must be " audita Johannes," but. 

 the inscription certainly is avita. 

 On the second bell : 



" Intercede pia 

 Pro nobis Virgo Maria." 



On the third bell, founder's name, and date 165?, 

 — a solitary instance, I imagine, of an addition made 

 to a peal of bells during the Puritan triumph of 

 the Great Eebellion. E. G. R. 



Fisherty Brow, near Kirkby Lonsdale, supplies 

 such an instance as J. J. S. Inquires after. There 

 is a sort of natural hollow scooped out there, 

 where a church, parson, and all the people, were 

 swallowed up ages since ; and any one who doubts 

 it, may put his ear to the ground on a Sunday 

 morning and hear the bells ring ! P. P- 



Old Weather Proverb. — The old monkish Latin 

 rhyme is very plainly verified this year : 



" Se Sol splendescat, Maria purifioante, 

 Major erit glacies post festum, quam fuit ante." 



February 2nd was a most brilliant day here, 

 where I live, not twenty miles from London : the 

 ground is now covered with snow, and the frost 

 very sharp. 



" After Candlemas Day the frost will be more, 

 If the sun then shines bright, than it has been 

 before." 

 " After Candlemas Day frost will follow more keen, 

 If the sun then shines bright, than before it has 

 been." 



C-S.T.P. 

 W Rectory, Feb. 12. 



