286 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 204. 



or castle, said to have been builfc by King Gregory 

 about the year 880, and was used by that monarch 

 as a hunting-seat ; and where, combining business 

 with pleasure, he is said to have meted out even- 

 handed justice to his subjects in the Gariodi. It 

 has long been tlie popular belief that this hill con- 

 tains gold ; and that the teeth of sheep fed on it 

 assume a yellow tinge, and also that their fat is of 

 the same colour. Notwithstanding this, no at- 

 tempt at scientific investigation Las ever been 

 made. The operations on the line of the Great 

 North of Scotland Railway, now in progress in 

 the immediate neighbourhood, may possibly bring 

 something to light. This line passes for many 

 miles through a country particularly rich in recol- 

 lections of the "olden time" — cairns, camps, old 

 chapels, druidical circles, sculptured stones, &c. ; 

 and where ancient coins, battle-axes of all the 

 three periods, urns and elf-arrow heads, Roman 

 armour, &c., have been disinterred by the ordi- 

 nary labours of the field. Within a short dis- 

 tance of its route lies the Hill of Barra, where the 

 famous battle was fought, anno 1308, between the 

 "Bruce" and the "Coniyn;" the Bass at In- 

 verary, the Hill of Benachie, with the remains of 

 a fortification on its summit, said to have been 

 erected by the Picts ; the field of Harlaw, famed 

 in song, where the battle was fought in 1411, in 

 which Donald of the Isles was defeated. There 

 are many traditional ballads and stories relating 

 to Benachie and Noth. There is a ballad called 

 " John O'Benachie ;" and another, "John O'Rhy- 

 nie, or Jock O'Noth ; " and they do not appear in 

 any collection of ancient ballads I have seen. It 

 is said that long "before King Robert rang," two 

 giants inhabited these mountains, and are supposed 

 to be the respective heroes of the two ballads. 

 These two sons of Anak appear to have lived 

 on pretty friendly terms, and to have enjoyed a 

 social crack together, each at his own residence, 

 although distant some ten or twelve miles. These 

 worthies had another amusement, that of throwing 

 stones at each other ; not small pebbles you may 

 believe, but large boulders. On one occasion, 

 however, there appears to have been a coolness 

 between them ; for one morning, as he of Noth 

 was returning from a foraging excursion in the 

 district of Buchan, his friend of Benachie, not 

 relishing what he considered an intrusion on his 

 legitimate beat, took up a large stone and threw 

 at him as he was passing. Noth, on hearing it 

 rebounding, coolly turned round; and putting him- 

 self in a posture of defence, received the ponde- 

 rous mass on the sole of his foot : and I believe 

 that the stone, with a deeply indented foot-mark 

 on it, is, like the bricks in Jack Cade's chimney, 

 " alive at this day to testify." Legendary lore 

 and fabulous ballads aside, it would indeed be 

 strange if something interesting to the antiquary 

 does not turn up in such a mine as this. It is 



curious, however, that in all the operations ante- 

 cedent to covering Great Britain with, as it were, 

 a network of iron, so very {QVf discoveries should 

 have been made of any importance, either to the 

 antiquary or geologist. Abbedonjbnsis. 



THOMAS BLOUNT, AUTHOR OF " FKAGMENTA ANTI- 

 QUITATIS," ETC. 



Being on a visit to some friends on the confines 

 of the county of Salop, bordering on Hereford- 

 shire, I took the opportunity long cherished of 

 visiting the spot where lie the remains of the 

 author of Boscobcl; Fragmenta Antiquitatis, or 

 Ancient Tenures of Land, and Jocular Customs of 

 Manors, §-c., and copied the following inscription 

 from his monument, in the chancel of the ancient 

 church of Orleton in the latter county. I believe 

 it has never been published ; and although neither 

 Note nor Query is connected with it, it may serve 

 to fill up a corner in your valuable miscellany, 

 and thus preserve from the oblivion of a retired 

 country church, a memorial of one well known to 

 the antiquarian world of literature. It is on a 

 brass ])late inserted in a stone monument against 

 the wall of the chancel : 



" D. O. M. 



Hie seminatur Corpus Animale 



Spiritale resurrecturum 



Thom^ Blount. 



De Orleton in agro Herefordiensl Armigeri, 



Ex interior! Templo Londini JCti. 



Viri priscis Moribus avitse Fidei, 



Vitffi integerrimse, Pietatis solidse, 



Fidelitatem, Dilectionem, Amorem, Charitatem, 



In Principem, Suos, Amicos, Omnes, 



Illibate c'oluit. 



Uxorem duxit 



Annam 



Filiam Eadmundi Church Armigeri 



E Maldonia East Saxonum. 



Unica Corporis prole. 



(Elizabetha) 



Mentis niultiplici 



(Libris utilissimis) 



Famillam propagavit, perennavit Farnam. 



Requiem, Lector, si fas ducis, huic apprecare 



Et meiior ahi. 



Obiit Decembris 26, 1679. iEtatis 61. 



Pientissima Coniunx 

 moerens 

 Posuit." 



The village of Orleton is celebrated for a very 

 large annual fair, which occurs on April 23 ; and 

 a saying is connected therewith : " That the cuckoo 

 always comes on Orleton fair-day;" which lias 

 doubtless arisen from the circumstance, that this 

 " messenger of spring" generally arrives in this 

 country by that day. J. B. Whitbobne. 



