612 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 186. 



to make his enemie afraid. Ischenderbeg writ back 

 to him, that he had simply without fraud or guile sent 

 him his owne cimeter, with the which he used to helpe 

 himselfe couragiously in the wars ; but that he had not 

 sent him the hand and the arme which with the cimeter 

 cleft the Turkes in two, struck off their heads, shoulders, 

 legs, and other parts, yea, sliced them off by the wast ; 

 and that verie shortly he would show him a fresh proofs 

 thereof; which afterwards he performed."— «/fis<onca/ 

 Meditations from the Latin of P. Camerarius, by John 

 Molle, Esquire, 1621, book iv. cap. xvi. p, 299. 



The following, relating to the arm and sword of 

 Scanderbeg, may perhaps not inappropriately be 

 added, although not connected with the proverb : 



" Marinus Barletius (lib. i. ) reports of Scanderbeg, 

 Prince of Epirus (that most terrible enemy of the 

 Turks), that, from his mother's womb, he brought 

 with him into the world a notable mark of warlike 

 glory : for he had upon his right arm a sword, so well 

 set on, as if it had been drawn with the pencil of the 

 most curious and skilful painter in the world." — Wan- 

 ley's Wonders of the Little IVorld, 1678, book i. cap. vii. 



Zeus. 



Arago on the Weather (Vol. vii., p. 40.). — Elsno 

 will find extracts from Arago's papers in the Pic- 

 torial Almanack, 1847, p. 30., and in the Civil 

 Engineer and Architects' Journal, which volume I 

 cannot say, but I think that for 1847. Also in 

 the Monthly Chronicle, vol. i. p. 60., and vol. ii. 

 p. 209. ; the annals of the Bureau des Longitudes 

 for 1834; and the Annuaire for 1833. 



Shirley Hibbebs. 



Mathe (Vol. vii., p. 392.). — Mb. Cbosslet is, I 

 believe, mistaken in his derivation of the word 

 raihe from the Celtic raithe, signifying inclination, 

 although rather seems indisputably to belong to it. 

 Mathe is, I believe, identical with the Saxon ad- 

 jective rcetha, signifying early. Chaucer's — 

 " What aileth you so rathe for to arise," 



has been already quoted as bearing this meaning. 

 Milton, in Lycidas, has — 



" Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies." 



In a pastoral, called a " Palinode," by E. B., pro- 

 bably Edmond Bolton, in England's Helicon, edit. 

 1614, occurs : 



" And make the rathe and timely primrose grow." 



And we have " rathe and late," in a pastoral in 

 Davidson's Poems, 4th edit., London, 1621. 



Rathe is a word still in use in the Weald of 

 Sussex, where Saxon still lingers in the dialect 

 of the common people : and a rathe, instead of an 

 early spring, is spoken of; and a species of early 

 apple is known as the iia^^e-ripe. Anon. 



Carr Pedigree (Vol. vii., p. 408.). — The pedi- 

 gree description of Lady Carr is " (j^resil, daughter 

 of Sir Robert Meredyth, Knt., Chancellor of the 



Exchequer in Ireland." Sir George Carr died 

 Feb. 13, 1662-3, and was buried in Dublin. His 

 sons were 1, Thomas, and 2, William; and a 

 daughter Mary, who married 1st, Dr. Thomas 

 Margetson (son to the Archbishop of Armagh) ; 

 and 2ndly, Dr. Michael Ward. The pedigree is 

 continued through Thomas the eldest son, who was 

 the father of the Bishop of Killaloe. It does not 

 appear that William left any issue. His wife's name 

 was Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Sing, D.D., 

 Lord Bishop of Cork. W. St. 



Banbury Cakes (Vol. vii., p. 106.). — In A Trea- 

 tise of Melancholy, by T. Bright, doctor of physic, 

 and published in 1586, I find the following : 



" Sodden wheat is of a grcsse and raelancholicke 

 nourishment, and bread especially of the fine flower 

 unleavened : of this sort are bag-puddings or pan- 

 puddings made with flour, frittars, pancakes, such as 

 we call Banberie cakes, and those great ones confected 

 with butter, eggs, &c., used at weddings ; and how- 

 soever it be prepared, rye and bread made thereof 

 carrieth with it plentie of melancholic." 



H. A. B. 



Detached Belfry Towers (Vol. vii., pp. 333. 416. 

 465.). — To your already extensive list of church 

 towers separate from the church, Launcestou 

 Church, Cornwall, and St. John's Church, Chester, 

 may not unfittingly be added. T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



Elstow, Bedfordshire, is an instance of a bell tower 

 separated from the body of the church. B. H. C. 



Dates on Tombstones (Vol. vii., p. 331.). — A 

 correspondent asks for instances of dates on tomb- 

 stones prior to 1601. I cannot give any, but I cau 

 refer to some slabs lying upon the ground in a 

 churchyard near Oundle (Tausor if I remember 

 aright), on which appear in relief recumbent 

 figures with the hands upon the breast, crossed, 

 or in the attitude of j)rayer. These are of a 

 much earlier date, and I should be much pleased 

 to know if many or any such instances elsewhere 

 occur. B. H. C. 



Subterranean Bells (Vol. vii., pp. 128. 328.).— 

 Bells under ground and under water, so often re- 

 ferred to, remind me of the Oundle Drumming 

 Well, which I remember seeing when a child. 

 There is a legend connected with it which I heard, 

 but cannot accurately recollect. The well itself 

 is referred to in Brand, vol. ii. p. 369. (Bohn's ed.), 

 but the legend is not given. B. H. C. 



Mistletoe in Ireland (Vol. ii., p. 270.). — I have 

 just received, in full blossom, a very fine spray 

 from a luxuriant plant of this parasite growing on 

 an apple tree in the gardens of Farmley, the seat 

 of William Lloyd Flood, Esq., in the county of 

 Kilkenny. This plant of mistletoe has existed at 



