Dec. 24. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



ftl» 



Ivanhoe, who has made the same oversight ; and 

 a still more glaring one besides in making Isaac 

 the Jew wish his daughter had been called Benoni, 

 f. e. the son of sorrow. The vowel letters of Je- 

 hovah are merely those of Adonai, inserted hy the 

 Massorites ; but this is another subject. 



W. Feaser. 

 Tor- Mob un. 



Lachlan Macleane. — This individual, whose 

 claim to the authorship of Junius has been lately 

 revived, was in Philadelphia ninety-five years 

 ago, and his name figures there in the accounts of 

 the overseers of the poor, under date of Novem- 

 ber 9, 1758: 



" By cash received of James Coultass, late sheriff, 

 being a fine paid by Lauglilane M'Clain for kissing 

 of Osborn's wife (after his commissions and writing 

 bond were deducted) ... £24 : 5 : " 



This was in Pennsylvania currency ; but it was an 

 expensive kiss even in that, being (besides the 

 commissions and sheriff's charge for writing the 

 bond) equivalent to sixty-four dollars and fifty 

 cents of our present currency. M. E. 



Philadelphia. 



German Tree. — The following extract con- 

 cerning this accessory to Christmas, which is now 

 so popular, may perhaps be interesting at the pre- 

 sent season. It is taken fi'om the Loseley Manu- 

 scripts, edited by A. J. Kempe, F. S. A., 1836, 

 p. 75. note. 



" "We remember a German of the household of the 

 late Queen Caroline, making what he termed a Christ^ 

 mas tree for a juvenile party at that festive season. 

 The tree was a branch of some evergreen fastened on a 

 board. Its boughs bent under the weight of gilt 

 oranges, almonds, &c. ; and under it was a neat model 

 of a farm-house, surrounded by figures of animals, &c., 

 and all due accompaniments. The forming Christmas 

 trees is, we believe, a common custom in Germany : 

 evidently a remain of the pageants constructed at that 

 season in ancient days." 



Is this the first notice of a German tree in Eng- 

 land? The adjunct of the farm-house seems now 

 to be dispensed with in this country. Zeus. 



The late Duke. — The following curious coinci- 

 dence, which lately appeared in the Meath Herald, 

 deserves transplanting to the literary museum of 

 "N. &Q.": 



" From the fact of the Mornington family having 

 been so connected by property, &c. with the parish of 

 Trim, in which town the late Duke spent so many of 

 his early days, and commenced his career in life by 

 being elected, when scarcely twenty-one years of age, 

 to represent the old borough of Trim, the following 

 coincidence is worth relating. On the news of the death 

 of the Duke reaching Trim, the Very Rev. Dean Butler 

 caused the chime of bells to be rung in respect to his 



memory ; and the large bell, which was considered one 

 of the finest and sweetest in Ireland, hardly had tolled 

 a second time for the occasion when it suddenly broke, 

 became mute, and ceased to send forth its notes. 

 VViiether this was to be attributed to neglect of the 

 ringer, or regret for the great man of llie age, it is hard 

 to say ; but, very odd as it may appear to be, on ex- 

 amining the bell, it was found to be cast by Edmund 

 Blood, 1769, the very year the Duke was born. Thus 

 this fine bell commenced its career with the birth of 

 the Duke, and ceased to sound at bis death. The 

 parish of Trim is now getting the bell recast, and the 

 old metal is to be seen at Mr. Hodges, Abbey Street, 

 Dublin." 



J. Yeowell. 



cautn'fi. 



THE STOBT OF CRISPIN AND CRISPIANOS. 



A Recitation for the 9.5th of October, and other Convivial 

 Meetings of Shoemakers. 



" The CaisrrK trade ! What better trade can be ? 

 Ancient and famous, independent, free ! 

 No other trade a brighter claim can find ; 

 No other trade display more share of mind ! 

 No other calling prouder names can boast, — 

 In arms, in arts, — themselves a perfect host ! 

 All honour, zeal, and patriotic pride ; 

 To dare heroic, and in suffering tried ! 

 But first and chief — and as such claims inspii-e — 

 Our Patron Brothers, who doth not admire? 

 Crispin and Crispianus 1 they who sought 

 Safety with us, and at the calling wrought : 

 Martyrs to Truth, who in old times were cast 

 Lorn outcasts forth to labour at the last I 

 Mould the stout sole, sew with the woven thread. 

 Make the good ft, and win their dally bread. 

 This was their strait and doing — this their doom ; 

 They sought our shelter, and they found a home I 

 Helpless and hapless, wandering to and fro, 

 "Weary they came and hid them from the foe ; 

 Two high-born youths, to lioly things impell'd. 

 Hunted from place to place, though still they held 

 Their sacred faith, and died for it, and threw 

 The glory of that death on all who made the Shoe ! 



" Such is the story — so behaved our trade ; 

 And then the Church its zealous homage paid. 

 And made their death-day holy, as we see 

 Still in the Calendar, and still to be ! 

 And long the Shoemaker has felt the claim, 

 And proved him joyful at such lofty fame; 

 For theirs it was by more than blood allied, 

 Alike they worshipp'd, and alike they died ! 

 Nor minded how the Pagan nipp'd their youth — 

 They are not dead who suffer for the Truth ! 

 The skies receive them, and the earth's warm heart 

 In grateful duty ever plays its part. 

 Embalms their memory to all future time, 

 And thus, in love, still punishes the crime ; 

 Sees, though the corse be trampled to the dust, 

 Tlie murder'd dead have retribution just ! 



