182 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 199. 



lany is desirable ; but a few words may be said on 

 behalf of your anonymous contributors. If the 

 rule were established that every correspondent 

 should add his name to his communication, many 

 of your friends might, from motives of delicacy, 

 decline asking a question or hazarding a reply. 

 By adopting a nom-de-guei-re, men eminent in 

 their various pursuits can quietly and unosten- 

 tatiously ask a question, or contribute information. 

 If the latter be done with reference to standard 

 works of authority, or to MSS. preserved in our 

 public depositories, the disclosure of the name of 

 the contributor adds nothing to the matter con- 

 tributed, and he may rejoice that he has been the 

 means of promoting the objects of the " N. & Q." 

 without the " blushing to find it fame." It should, 

 however, be a sine qua noii that all original com- 

 munications, and those of matters of fact, should 

 be authenticated by a real signature, when no re- 

 ference can be given to authorities not accessible 

 to the public ; and it is to be regretted that such 

 authentication has not, in such cases, been ge- 

 nerally afforded. 



Thos. Wm. King (York Herald). 



Lines on the Institution of the Garter (Vol. viii., 

 p. 53.).- 



" Her stocking's security fell from her knee. 

 Allusions and hints, sneers and whispers went round." 



May I put a Query on the idea suggested by 

 these lines — that the accidental dropping of her 

 garter implied an imputation on the fair fame of 

 the Countess of Salisbury. Why should this be ? 

 That it did imply an imputation, I judge as well 

 from the vindication of the lady by King Edward, 

 as also from the proverbial expression used in 

 Scotland, and to be found in Scott's Woi-ks, of 

 "casting a leggin girth," as synonymous with a 

 female " faux pas." I have a conjecture, but 

 should not like to venture it, without inquiring 

 the general impression as to the origin of this 

 notion. A. B. K. 



Belmont. 



"Short red, God red" Sfc. (Vol. vii., p. 500.). 

 — Sir Walter Scott has committed an oversight 

 ■when, in Tales of a Grandfather, vol. i. p. 85., he 

 mentions a murderer of the Bishop of Caithness to 

 have made use of the expression, " Schort red, 

 God red, slca ye the bischop," Adam, Bishop of 

 Caithness, was burnt by the mob near Thurso, in 

 1222, for oppression in the exaction of tithes ; 

 John, Earl of Orkney and Caithness, was killed in 

 retaliation by the bishop's party in 1231, 



The language spoken at that time on the sea- 

 coast of Caithness must have been Norse. Suther- 

 land would appear to have been wrested from the 

 Orkney-Norwegians before that period, and the 

 Celtic tongue and race gaining on the Norse; but 

 on the sea- coast of Caithness I should apprehend 



the Norse continued to be the spoken tongue till 

 a later period, when it was superseded by the 

 Scottish. The Norwegians in the end of the 

 ninth century colonised Orkne}^ and expelled or 

 destroyed the former inhabitants. The Western 

 Isles were also subjugated by them at that time, 

 and probably Caithness, or at all events a little 

 later. It would be desirable to know the race and 

 tongue previously existing in Caithness, and if 

 these were lost in the Norwegians and Norse, and 

 an earlier Christianity in Scandinavian Paganism. 

 Tills may, however, lead to the unfathomably dark 

 subject of the Picts. Is it known when Norse 

 ceased to be spoken in Caithness ? The story of 

 the burning of the Bishop of Caithness forms the 

 conclusion of the Orhneijinga Saga; and vide 

 Torfajus, Orcades, ji. 154., and Dalryinple's Annals 

 of Scotland, of dates 1222 and 1231. F. 



Martha Blount (Vol. vii., pp.38. 117.). — At 

 " Bi'andon," the seat of the Harrisons on the 

 James River, Virginia, is a likeness of iliss Blount 

 by Sir Godfrey Kneller ; and at " Berkeley," also 

 on the James Biver, and the residence of another 

 branch of the same family, is one of the Duchess 

 of Montagu, also by Kneller. Thus much in an- 

 swer to the Query. But in this connexion I would 

 mention, that on the James lliver are many fine 

 pictures, portraits of worthies famous in English 

 history. At " Shirley" there is one of Col. Hill, 

 by Vandyke ; at Brandon, one of Col. Byrd, by 

 Vandyke ; also Lord Orrery, Duke of Argyle, 

 Lord Albemarle, Lord Egmont, Sir Robert Wal- 

 pole, and others, by Kneller. 



These pictures are mentioned in chap. ix. of 

 Travels in No7'th America daring the Years 1834 — 

 1836, by the Hon. Charles Augustus Murray ; a 

 gentleman who either is, or was, Master of the 

 Queen's Household. T, Balch. 



Philadelphia. 



Longevity (Vol. viii,, p. 113.). — As W. W. 

 asserts that there is a lady living (or was two 

 months ago) in South Carolina, who is Jaioivn to 

 be 131 years old, he will no doubt be good enough 

 to let the readers of " N. & Q." know it also. And 

 although W. W. thinks it will not be necessary to 

 search in " annual or parish registers " to prove 

 the age of the singular Singleton, yet he must 

 produce documentary evidence of some sort ; 

 unless, indeed, he hnoivs an older person who re- 

 members the birth of the aged Carolinian. 



Having paid the well-known Mr. Barnum a fee 

 to see a negress, whom the cute showman exhibited 

 as the nurse of the great Washington, I have fifty 

 cents worth of reasons to subscribe myself 



A DODBTEB. 



Its (Vol. vii., p.57S.).— B.H. C. is perfectly 

 correct in saying that I was mistaken in my quo- 

 tation from Fairfax's Tasso. It only remains for 



