308 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 178. 



and it is supported by an instance from the present 

 German : Hollriegel = vectis infernalis, brand 

 of hell, is still recognised &s=-tenfel ; or for an 

 old witch = devil's dam. 



And even in Latin documents we find the 

 same idea represented. Thus, in a charter of 

 King Edgar {Cod. Dipl, No. 487.), which begins 

 with a recital of the fall of man, and the need of 

 escaping the consequent misery, we have the fol- 

 lowing : 



" Quamobrem ego Eadgar, totius Britanniae guber- 

 nator et rector, ut hujus miserise repagulum quam pro- 

 toplastus inretitus promeruit . . . evadere queam, 

 quandara ruris particulam . . . largitus sum," &c. &c. 



As to the application of this name to localities, 

 it seems to represent the same sentiment as the 

 prefix of Giant, Grim, or Devil : and this sentiment 

 would be that of the grand or awful in Nature, 

 and mysterious or unaccountable in artificial 

 works. I think we may then safely conclude, that 

 all dikes, ditches, camps, cromlechs, &c., which 

 have such titles attached to them, date from an 

 age previous to the Saxons being in England. 

 For example, if we did not know from other 

 sources the high antiquity of Wayland Smith's 

 Cave in Berkshire, we might argue tliat it was at 

 least pre-Saxon; from the fact that the Saxons 

 called it by the name of their Vulcan, and therefore 

 that it appeared to them so mysterious as to be 

 dignus vindice nodus. 



If your correspondent C. G., or any of your 

 readers, can, either from their reading or from 

 local knowledge, add any further illustrations or 

 examples of this ancient heathen word, I, for one, 

 shall receive them gratefully. I. E. 



Oxford. 



MCMMIES OF ECCLESIASTICS, 



(Vol. vi., pp. 53. 110. 203. 328.) 



Although I have myself seen the natural mxim- 

 mies preserved at Kreuzberg on tlie Rhine, I can 

 say nothing more with regard to tliem, than vouch 

 for the accuracy of the accounts transmitted by 

 your various correspondents under this head. 

 Your Querist A. A. however may, if curious on 

 this subject, be referred with advantage to Mr. 

 T. J. Pettigrew's interesting History of Egyptian 

 Mummies. In chap. xvii. of this work, many in- 

 stances are adduced of the preservation of bodies 

 from puti'efixctlon by the desiccating properties of 

 the natural air of the place in which they are con- 

 tained. He says : 



"In dry, and particularly calcareous vaults, bodies 

 may be preserved for a great length of time. In 

 Toulous?, bodies are to l)e seen quite perfect, although 

 buried two centuries ago. In the vaults of St. Mi- 

 chael's Church, Dublin, the same effect is produced ; 

 and Mr. Madden says he there saw the body of Henry 



Shears, who was hanged In 1798, in a state of pre- 

 servation equal to that of any Egyptian mummy." 



Garcilasso de la Veya, and more recent his- 

 torians, may be referred to for accounts of the 

 mummy-pits of Peru, the dry air of which country 

 is an effectual preventive of the process of putre- 

 faction. One of the most curious spectacles, how- 

 ever, of this nature is to be found in the Catacombs 

 of Palermo, where the traveller finds himself In 

 the midst of some thousands of unburied bodies, 

 which, suspended mostly by the neck, have become 

 so distorted In form and feature in the process of 

 desiccation, as to provoke an irrepressible smile in 

 the midst of more solemn and befitting contem- 

 plations. (Sonnini's ^VaueZs, vol. i. p. 47.; Smyth's 

 Memoirs of Sicily and its Islands, p. 88.) 



Similar properties are also attributed to the air 

 of the western islands of Scotland. " To return 

 to our purpose," says P. Camerarlus (The Living 

 Lihrarie, translated by Molle, folio, London, 1625, 

 p. 47.),- 



" That which Abraham Ortelius reporteth after Gyrald 

 de Cambren is wonderful], that the bodies of men rot 

 not after their decease, in the isles of Arran ; and that 

 therefore they bee not buried, but left in the open ayr, 

 where putrefaction doth them no manner of hurt ; 

 whereby the families (not without amazement) doe 

 know their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathersi 

 and a long race of their predecessors. Peter Martyr, 

 a Milannois, saith the same of some West Indians of 

 Comagra. These bee his words : ' The Spaniards 

 being entered the lodgings of this Cacick, found a 

 chamber fulie of dead bodies, hanging by ropes of 

 cotton, and asking what superstition that was, they 

 received this answer, Tliat those were the fathers, 

 grandfathers, and great-grandfathers of the Cacick of 

 Comagra. The Indians say that they keep such relikes 

 preciously, and that the ceremonie is one of the i)oints 

 of their religion. According to his qualities while he 

 lived, his bodie, being dead, is richly decked with 

 jewels and precious stones.' " 



Many other instances might be adduced, but 

 you will now think that at least enough has been 

 said on this subject. William Bates. 



Birmingham. 



VICARS-APOSTOLIC in ENGLAND. 



(Vol. vi., pp. 125. 297.400.; Vol. vli., pp. 242. 243.) 



Your correspondent A. S. A. seems very anxious 

 to possess a complete list of the vicars-apostolic 

 of England. With their names, and the date of 

 their consecration and death, collected from vari- 

 ous sources, I am able to supply him. 



The last survivor of the Roman Catholic bishops 

 consecrated in England prior to the reign of Eliza- 

 beth was Dr. Thomas Watson, api)ointed bishop 

 of Lincoln in 1557 by (iueen Mary, and deprived 

 (on the accession of Elizabeth) in 1559. 



