366 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 207. 



French Courier du Commerce ? 

 NavorscJier. 



From the 

 L. D. S. 



Ireland a bastinadoed Elephant. — " And Ireland, 

 like a bastinadoed elephant, kneeled to receive 

 her rider." This sentence is ascribed by Lord 

 Byron to the Irish orator Curran. Diligent 

 search through his speeches, as published in the 

 United States, has been unsuccessful in finding it. 

 Can any of your readers " locate it," as we say in 

 the backwoods of America? A taastinado pro- 

 perly is a punishment inflicted by beating the soles 

 of the feet : such a flagellation could not very con- 

 veniently be administered to an elephant. The 

 figure, if used by Curran, has about it the cha- 

 racter of an elephantine bull. W&i- 



Philadelphia. 



Memorial Lines by Thomas Aquinas. — 



" Thomas Aquinas summed up, in a quaint tetrastic, 

 twelve causes which might found sentences of nullitj', 

 of repudiation, or of the two kinds of divorce ; to which 

 some other, as monkish "as himself, added two more 

 lines, increasing the causes to fourteen, and to these 

 were afterwards added two more. The former are 

 [here transcribed from] the note : 



'Error, conditio, votum, cognatio, crimen, 

 Cultus disparitas, vis, ordo, ligaraen, honcstas, 

 Si sis affinis, si forte coire nequibis. 

 Si parochi, et duplicis desit praesentia testis, 

 Raptave si mulier, parti nee reddita tutae ; 

 Hffic facienda vetant connubia, facta retractant.' " 

 From Essay on Scripture Doctrines of AduUery 

 and Divorce, by H. V. Tabbs, Svo. : Load. 

 1822. 



The subject was proposed, and a prize of fifty 

 pounds awarded to this essay, by the Society for 

 Propagating Christian Knowledge in the Diocese 

 of St. David's in 1821, This appears to me to 

 have been a cui-ious application of its funds by 

 such a society. Can any of your readers explain 

 it ? Balliolensis. 



- " Johnson's tu7'gid style " — " What does not 

 Jade ? " — Can any of your readers tell me where 

 to find the following lines ? 



" I own I like not Johnson's turgid style, 

 That gives an inch th' importance of a mile," 

 &c. &c. 

 And 



"What does not fade? The tower which long has 

 stood 

 The crash of tempests, and the warring winds, 

 Shook by the sura but slow destroyer. Time, 

 Now hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base," 

 &c. &c. 



A. F. B. 



Meaning of " Lane" ^c. — By what process of 

 development could the Anglo-Saxon laen (i. e. the 

 Englisli word lane, and the Scottish loaning) have 



obtained its present meaning, which answers to 

 that of the limes of the Koman agrimensores ? 



What is considered to be the English measure- 

 ment of the Roman jMg-er, and the authorities for 

 such measurement ? 



What is the measurement of the Anglo-Saxon 

 hyde, and the authorities for such measurement ? 



II. 



Theobald le Botiller. — What Theobald le Bo-; 

 tiller did Kose de Vernon marry ? See Vernon, 

 in Burke's Extinct Peerage ; Butler, in Lynch's 

 Feudal Dignities ; and the 2nd Butler (Ormond), 

 in Lodge's Peerage. Y. S. M. 



William, fifth Lord Harrington. — Did William, 

 fifth Lord Harrington, marry Margaret JSTeville 

 (see Burke's Extinct Peerage) or Lady Catherine 

 Courtenay ? The latter is given in Burke's Peer- 

 age and Baronetage, in Sir John Harrington's 

 pedigree. Y. S. M. 



Singular Discovery of a Cannon-ball. — A heavy 

 cannon-shot, I should presume a thirty-two pound 

 ball, was found embedded in a large tree, cut 

 down some years since on the estate of J. W. 

 Martin, Esq., at Showborough, in the parish of 

 Twyning, Gloucestershire. There was never till 

 quite lately any house of importance on the spot, 

 nor is there any trace of intrenchments to be dis- 

 covered. The tree stood at some distance from 

 the banks of the Avon, and on the other side of 

 that river runs the road from Tewkesbury through 

 Bredon to Pershore. The ball in question is 

 marked with the broad arrow. From whence and 

 at what period was the shot fired ? 



Fkancis John Scott. 



Tewkesbury. 



Scottish Castles. — It is a popular belief, and 

 quoted frequently in the Statistical Account of 

 Scotland, and other works referring to Scottish 

 affiiirs, that the fortresses of Edinburgh Castle, 

 Stii-ling Castle, Dumbarton Castle, Blackness 

 Castle, were appointed by the Articles of Union 

 between England and Scotland to be kept in 

 repair and garrisoned. Can any of your readers 

 refer to the foundation for this statement*? for no 

 reference is to be found to the subject in the 

 Articles of Union. Scrymzeour. 



Edinburgh. 



Sneezing. — Concerning sneezirig, it is a curious 

 circumstance that if any one should sneeze in 

 company in North Germany, those present Avill 

 say, "Your good health;" in Vienna, gentlemen 

 in a cafe will take oflT their hats, and say, " God 

 be with you ;" and in Ireland Paddy will say, "God 

 bless your honour," or " Long life to your honour." 

 I understand that in Italy and Spain similar ex- 

 pressions are used ; and I think I remember hear- 



