94 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 196. 



not inform me. I may also mention, In connexion 

 with St. Nicholas, Rochester, that the font is oc- 

 tagonal, and inscribed with the following capital 

 letters, the first surmounted by a crown : 



C.R.I. *.*.*. A.N. 



The large panel on each side contains one of the 

 letters; the font is placed close to the wall, so 

 that the remaining letters, indicated by asterisks, 

 cannot now be read : the sexton said that the 

 whole word was supposed to be "Christian," or 

 rather " Cristian." Beside the font is a very 

 quaint iron bracket-stand, painted blue and gold, 

 " constructed to carry " two candles. 



W. Spareow Simpson. 



P. S. — Permit me to correct an error of the 

 press in my communication at p. 8. of your present 

 volume, col. 1. 1. 10. from bottom; for "worn," 

 read " won." 



REAIi SIGNATURES VERSUS PSEUDO-NAMES. 



It is pleasant to see so many of the correspon- 

 dents of " N. & Q." joining in the remonstrance 

 against the anonymous system. Were one to set 

 about accumulating the reasons for the abandon- 

 ment of pseudo-names and initials, many of the 

 valuable columns of this periodical might be easily 

 filled ; such an essay it is not, however, my in- 

 tention to inflict on its readers, who by a little 

 thought can easily do for themselves more than a 

 large effusion of ink on the part of any corre- 

 spondent could effect. I shall content myself with 

 recounting the good which, in one instance, has 

 resulted from a knowledge of the real name and 

 address of a contributor. 



The Rev. H. T. Ellacombe (one of the first to 

 raise his voice against the use of pseudo-names) 

 having observed in " N. & Q." many communi- 

 cations evincing no ordinary acquaintance with 

 the national Records of Ireland, and wishing to 

 enter into direct communication with the writer 

 (who merely signed himself J. F. F.), put a Query 

 in the " Notices to Correspondents," begging 

 J. F. F. to communicate his real name and address. 

 There in all probability the matter would have 

 ended, as J. F. F. did not happen to take 

 "N. & Q.," but that the writer of these lines 

 chanced to be aware, that under the above given 

 initials lurked the name of the worthy, the cour- 

 teous, the erudite, and, yet more strange still, the 

 unpaid guardian of the Irish Exchequer Records 

 — James Frederick Ferguson, — a name which 

 many a student of Irish history will recognise with 

 warm gratitude and unfeigned respect. Now it 

 had so happened that by a strange fortune Mr. 

 Ellacombe was the repository of information as 

 to the whereabouts of certain of the ancient 

 Records of Ireland (see Mr. Ellacombe's notice 

 of the matter, Vol. viii., p. 5.), abstracted at some 



former period from the " legal custody " of some 

 heedless keeper, and sold by a Jew to a German 

 gentleman, and the result of his communicating 

 this knowledge to Mr. Ferguson, has been the 

 latter gentleman's " chivalrous " and successful 

 expedition for their recovery. The English Quar- 

 terly Revieiv (not Magazine, as Mr. Ellacombe 

 inadvertently writes), in a forthcoming article on 

 the Records of Ireland, will, it is to be hoped, 

 give the full details of this exciting record hunt, 

 and thus exemplify the great utility, not to speak 

 of the manliness, of real names and addresses, 

 versus false names and equally Will-o'-the-Wisp 

 initials. James Graves. 



Kilkenny. 



POPULAR STORIES OF THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY. 

 (Vol. v., p. 363, &C.) 



Will you allow me, through the medium of " N. 

 & Q.," to say how much obliged I should be for 

 any communications on this subject. Since I last 

 addressed you (about a year ago) I have received 

 many intei-esting contributions towards my pro- 

 posed collection ; but not, I regret to say, quite to 

 the extent I had anticipated. My own researches 

 have been principally confined to the midland 

 counties, and I have very little from the north 

 or east. Such a large field requires many gleaners, 

 and I hope your correspondents learned in Folk- 

 lore will not be backward in lending their aid to 

 complete a work which Scott, Southey, and a 

 host of illustrious names, have considered a desi- 

 deratum in our national antiquities. 



I propose to divide the tales into three classes — 

 Mythological, Humorous, and Nurse-tales. Of 

 the mythological I have already given several 

 specimens in your journal, but I will give the 

 following, as it illustrates another link in the 

 transmission of Mr. Keightley's Hindustani 

 legend, which appeared in a recent Number. It is 

 from Northamptonshire. 



The Bogie and the Farmer. 



Once upon a time a Bogie asserted a claim to a 

 field which had been hitherto in the possession of 

 a farmer ; and after a great deal of disputing, 

 they came to an arrangement by agreeing to 

 divide its produce between them. At seed time, 

 the farmer asks the Bogie what part of the crop 

 he will have, " tops or bottoms." " Bottoms," said 

 the spirit : upon which the crafty farmer sows the 

 field with wheat, so that when harvest arrives the 

 corn falls to his share, while the poor Bogie is 

 obliged to content himself with the stubble. 

 Next year the spirit, finding he had made such an 

 unfortunate selection in the bottoms, chose the 

 tops; whereupon cunning Hodge set the field 

 with turnips, thus again outwitting the simple 



