490 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 212. 



As to the tree, I have some recollection of 

 having heard that it had a few years ago a narrow 

 escape of being thrown down, sometime about the 

 vice-chancellorship of Dr. Symons, who promptly 

 came forward to the rescue. Was it ever in such 

 peril ? and, if so, was it preserved ? 



Balliolensis. 



POIiK LORE. 



Ancient Custom in Warwickshire. — In Sir Wil- 

 liam Dugdale's Diary, under the year 1658, is 

 noted the following : 



" On All Hallow Even, the master of the family 

 antiently used to carry a bunch of straw, fired, about 

 his come, saying, 



' Fire and red low, 

 Liglit on my teen low.'" 



Can any of yonr readers learned in ancient lore 

 explain the custom and the meaning of the 

 couplet, as well as its origin ? Does it now at all 

 prevail in that county ? J. B. Whitborne. 



NottingJiamsliire Customs. — 1. The 29th of 

 May is observed by the Notts juveniles not only 

 by wearing the usual piece of oak-twig, but each 

 young loyalist is armed with a nettle, as coarse as 

 can be procured, with which instrument of torture 

 are coerced those unfortunates who are unpro- 

 vided with "royal oak," as it is called. Some 

 who are unable to procure it endeavour to avoid 

 the penalty by wearing " dog-oak " (maple), but 

 the punishment is always more severe on discovery 

 of the imposition. 



2. On Shrove Tuesday, the first pancake cooked 

 is given to Chanticleer for his sole gratification. 



3. The following matrimonial custom prevails 

 at Wellow or Welley, as it is called, a village in 

 the heart of the county. The account is copied 

 from the Notts Guardian of April 28, 1853 : 



" Wellow. It has been a custom from time imme- 

 morial in this parish, when the banns of marriage are 

 published, for a person, selected by the clerk, to rise 

 and say ' God speed them well,' the clerk and con- 

 gregation responding, Amen ! Owing to the recent 

 death of the person who officiated in this ceremony, 

 last Sunday, after the banns of marriage were read, a 

 perfect silence prevailed, the person chosen, either from 

 want of courage or loss of memory, not performing his 

 part until after receiving an intimation from the clerk, 

 and then in so faint a tone as to be scarcely audible. 

 His whispered good wishes were, however, followed by 

 a hearty Amen, mingled with some laughter in different 

 parts of the church." 



I do not know whether any notices of the above 

 have appeared in "N. & Q," and send to inquire 

 respecting 1. and 3. whether a similar custom holds 

 elsewhere ; and whether 2. has any connexion 

 with the disused practice of cock-shying ? 



FURVUS. 



A Centenarian Couple. — The obituary of Black- 

 wood's Magazine for August, 1821, contains the 

 following : 



" Lately, in Campbell, County Virginia, Mr. Chas. 

 Layne, sen., aged 121 years, being born at Albemarle, 

 near Buckingham county, 1700. He has loft a widow 

 aged 1 10 years, and a numerous and respectable family 

 down to the fourth generation. He was a subject" of 

 four British sovereigns, and a citizen of the United 

 States for nearly forty-eight years. Until within a few 

 years he enjoyed all his faculties, and excellent health." 



The above extract is followed by notices of the 

 deaths of Anne Bryan, of Ashford, co. Waterford, 

 aged 111; and Wm. Munro, gardener at Rose 

 Hall, aged 104. Cuthbert Bede, B.A. 



" Veni, vidi, vici." — To these remarkable and 

 well-known words of the Roman general, I beg to 

 forward two more sententious despatches of cele- 

 brated generals : 



Suwarrow. " Slava bogu ! Slava vam ! 

 Krepost Vzala, yiatam." 



" Glory to God and the Empress ! Ismail's ours." 



It is also stated, I do not know on what authority, 

 that the old and lamented warrior, Sir Charles 

 Napier, wrote on the conquest of Scinde, " Pec- 

 cavi." 



Perhaps some of your correspondents could add 

 a few more pithy sentences on a like subject. 



G. Lloyd. 



Dublin. 



Autumnal Tints. — Scarce any one can have 

 failed to notice the unusual richness and brilliance 

 of the autumnal tints on the foliage this year. I 

 have more particularly remarked this in Clydes- 

 dale, the lake districts of Cumberland and West- 

 moreland, and in Somersetshire and Devonshire. 

 Can any of the contributors to " N. & Q." inform 

 me if attributable to the extraordinary wetness of 

 the season ? R. H. B. 



Va7-iety is pleasing. — Looking over my last 

 year's note-book, I find the following morceau, 

 which I think ought to be preserved in " N. & Q. :" 



" Nov. 30, 1851. Observed in the window of the 

 Shakspeare Inn a written paper running thus : 



' To be raffled for : 



The finding of Moses, and six 



Fat geeze ( ! ! )• 



Tickets at the bar.' " 



R. C. Warde. 



Kidderminster. 



Rome and the Numler Six. — It has been re- 

 marked lately in " N. & Q." that in English his- 

 tory, the reign of the second sovereign of the same 

 name has been infelicitous. I cannot turn to the 



