676 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 215. 



with great gusto the 1st, 4tb, 11th, and 12th 

 verses of 35th Psalin in Tate and Brady's New 

 Version. Wm. Hazbl. 



Phantom Bells—" The Death Bell" (Vol. vii. 

 vassim). — I have never met, in any work on folk- 

 lore and popular superstitions, any mention of 

 that unearthly bell, whose sound is borne on the 

 death-wind, and heralds his doom to the hearer. 

 Mi( kle alludes to it in his fine ballad of " Cumnor 

 Halle :" 



" The death-beUe thrice was heard to ring. 

 An aerial voice was heard to calle, 

 And thrice the raven flapp'd its wing, 

 Arounde the towers of Cumnor Halle." 



And Rogers, in his lines " To an Old Oak :" 



" There once the steel-clad knight reclined, 

 His sable plumage tempest-tossed : 

 And as the death-bell smote the wind, 

 From towers long fled by human kind. 

 His brow the hero crossed." 



When ships go down at sea during a terrible 

 tempest, it is said the "death-bell" is often dis- 

 tinctly heard amid the storm- wind. And in tales 

 of what is called Gothic superstition, it assists in 

 the terrors of the supernatural. 



Sir W. Scott perhaps alluded to the superstition 

 in the lines : 



" And the kelpie ran^. 

 And the sea-maid sang, 

 The dirge of lovely Rosabelle." 



EiRIONNACH. 



Porter Family (Vol. viii., p. 364.). — Full par- 

 ticulars of the existing branch of this ancient 

 family can be afforded by the Rev. Malcom Mac- 

 donald of South End, Essex, chaplain to Lady 

 Tamar Sharpe, the aunt and guardian of the re- 

 presentatives of Sir R. K. Porter. M. H. J. 



Thavies Inn. 



The Mitred Abbot in Wroughton Church, Wilts 

 (Vol. viii., p. 411.). — The figm'e was painted in 

 fresco, not on a pillar, but on the spandril- space 

 between two arches. The vestments, as far as I 

 can make out, are an alb, a tunicle and a cope, 

 and mitre. The hands do not appear to hold any- 

 thing, and I see nothing to show it to represent a 

 mitred abbot rather than a bishop. The colours 

 of the cope and tunicle were red and green, the 

 exterior of the cope and the tunicle being of one 

 colour, the interior of the cope of the other. The 

 figure was the only perfect one when I visited the 

 church, and the rain was washing it out even as 

 I sketched ; but there had been one between every 

 two arches, and there were traces of colour 

 throughout the aisle, and the designs appeared to 

 me unusually elegant. I believe my slight sketch 

 to be all that now remains ; and I shall be glad 

 to send a copy of it to your correspondent if he 



wishes for it, and will signify how I may convey 

 it to him. 



Passage in Virgil (Vol. viii., p. 270.). — Is this 

 the passage referred to by Doctor Johnson ? 

 " Nunc scio, quid sit Amor : diiris in cotibus ilium 

 Aut Tmarus, aut Rhodope, aut extremi Garamantes, 

 Nee generis nostri puerum, nee sanguinis, edunt." 

 "Virgil : Bucolica, Eel. viii. 1. 43. 

 " The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted 

 with Love, and found him a native of the rocks." 

 Dr. Johnson found his reward not in vain solicit- 

 ations to patrons, but in the fruits of his literary 

 labours. 



The famous lines in Spenser's " Colin Clout's 

 come home again," * on the instability and hoUow- 

 ness of patronage, may occur to the reader : 

 " Full little knowest thou, that hast not tride. 

 What hell it is in suing long to bide : 

 To lose good days that might be better spent. 

 To waste long nights in pensive discontent. 

 To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow, 

 To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow. 

 To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares ; 

 To eat thy heart through comfortless despaires," &c. 



F. 



Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, Chief Justice (Vol. viii., 

 pp.158. 276.). — In "A Letter to a Convocation 

 Man," which was recently edited by a frequent 

 contributor to your pages, the Rev. W. Fraseb, 

 B.C.L,, and is favourably mentioned by you, I 

 find the following sentence, declaring that Sir 

 Anthony Fitzherbert was Chief Justice : 



" I must admit that it is said in the second part of 

 Rolle's Abridgment, that the Archbishop of Canterbury 

 was prohibited to hold such assemblies by Fitzherbert, 

 Chief Justice, because he had not the King's licence. 

 But he adds that the Archbishop would not obey it ; 

 and he quotes Speed for it." — P. 38. of original pam- 

 phlet, and p. 36. of Mr. Eraser's reprint. 



Mr. Eraser merely refers to Sir Anthony 

 Fitzherbert as being made judge of the Common 

 Pleas in 1523, and does not enter into this ques- 

 tion, which deserves investigation. M. W. R. 



" To put a spoke in his wheeV (Vol. viir., 

 pp. 269. 351.). — W. C.'s answer to G. K.'s in- 

 quiry is so very facetious, that I must confess I 

 do not understand it. 



As to the meaning of the expression, I think 

 there can be no doubt. Ainsworth interprets it, 

 " Scrupulum injecisti mihi, spem meam remo- 

 ratus es." 



In Dutch, "Een spaak in t'wiel steeken," is 

 "To traverse, thwart, or cross a design." See 

 Sewel's Woordenboek. 



The efiect is similar to that of spiking cannon. 

 And it is not improbable that spoke, known by the 



[ * In Mother Hubberd's Tale. —Ed.] 



