274 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 284. 



Kiselak (Vol. x., p. 366. ; Vol. xi., p. 232.). — 

 JcvERNA will find, in Nieritz's Siichsischer Volks- 

 kalender for 1847, an article headed "Kiselak: 

 Eine Unsterblichkeit des Neunzehnten Jahrhun- 

 derts." That account of the hero's propensity to 

 immortalise his name, agrees with J. C. R.'s state- 

 ment ; and there is a picture of Kiselak suspended 

 by a rope, painting his name on a rock, apparently 

 in the Saxon-Switzerland, overhanging the Elbe, 

 in a very hazardous position. J. H. L. 



" F.S. Ar or « F. A. S." (Vol. x., p. 465.). — 

 These initial letters seem to me to have reference 

 rather to the English style of the Society of An- 

 tiquaries, than to the corresponding one in Latin. 

 At first the Society was called the " Antiquarian 

 Society," and hence the former style of F. A. S. 

 But since the date of its charter (1751), wherein 

 it is described as the " Society of Antiquaries," 

 the initials F. S. A. have been adopted as the 

 correct designation. See Hume on The Learned 

 Societies, pp. 10. 76. Henet H. Bbeen. 



St. Lucia. 



^^ Peart as a Pearmonger" (Vol. xi., pp. 114. 

 232.). — H. B. C. speaks as though "peart" were 

 synonymous with the modern " pert ; " but I 

 imagine that this is by no means clear. In the 

 fourteenth century, at any rate, the word meant 

 not " pert " in the modern sense, but opera, clear, 

 perhaps straightforward. And though the date of 

 this proverb is not given, it is probably of some 

 antiquity. Mr. Wright, in his glossary to Piers 

 Plowman, gives " pertliche " as Anglo-Norman, 

 and meaning " openly " (or " evidently "), as the 

 following examples prove : 



" He preved that thise pestilences 

 Were for pure synne, 

 And the south-westrene wynd 

 On Saterday at even 

 Was pertliche for pure pride. 

 And for no point ellis." — 2497-2502. 



" Of this matcre I myghte 

 Mamelen ful longe ; 

 Ac I shal seye as I saugh, 

 So me God helpe! 

 How pertly afore the pepie 

 Reson bigan to preche." — 2513-2518. 



W. Denton. 



First English Envoy to Russia (Vol. x., pp. 1 27. 

 209. 348. 512.). — Your correspondents will find 

 a lengthened account of this transaction in the 

 Lives of the Sovereigns of Russia, by G. Fowler, 

 under the reign of Ivan the Terrible, pp. 110 — 

 114. (derived probably from Milton's narrative, 

 quoted by Mr. Wynen in " N. & Q.," p. 512.); 

 but with the strange mistake of spelling Bowes as 

 JBowles throughout, rather a grave error for an 

 historian, in whom accuracy should be a sine qua 

 non. P. H. GossE. 



58. Huntingdon Street, Bamsbury Park. 



Submerged Bells (Vol. xi., p. 176.).— The 

 allusion here made to the Cornish legend of the 

 submerged bells of Bottreaux, reminds me of a 

 very pretty legend of the island of Jersey of the 

 same kind. Many years ago the twelve parish 

 churches in Jersey each possessed a beautiful and 

 valuable peal of bells ; but during a long civil war, 

 the states determined on selling these bells to 

 defray the heavy expenses of their army. The 

 bells were accordingly collected and sent to 

 France for that purpose ; but on the passage the 

 ship foundered, and everything was lost, to show 

 the wrath of Heaven at the sacrilege. Since then, 

 before a storm these bells always ring up from the 

 deep ; and to this day the fishermen of St. Ouen's 

 Bay always go to the edge of the water before 

 embarking, to listen if they can hear " the bells 

 upon the wind;" and if those warning notes are 

 heard, nothing will induce them to leave the 

 shore ; if all is quiet, they fearlessly set sail. As a 

 gentleman who has versified the legend for me 

 says : 



" 'Tis an omen of death to the mariner, 

 Who wearily fights with the sea. 

 For the foaming surge is his winding-sheet. 



And his funeral knell are we : 

 His funeral knell our passing bell. 

 And his winding-sheet the sea." 



M. A. W— D. 



" White Bird,featherless" (Vol. xi., p. 225.).-- 

 I have not the means of referring to Kircher's 

 CEdipus Egyptiacus at present ; but frora^ a note 

 which I made many years ago, I am inclined to 

 think that the original of these lines is to be found 

 in what was even in his days an old German 

 riddle or conundrum. He gives it (if I remember 

 right) as a proof or example that the Germans 

 made the sun feminine, at vol. ii. p. 34. : 



" Es flog ein Vogel federlosz 

 Auff einen Baumb blattlosz, 

 Da kam die Frau mundlosz, 

 Und frasz den Vogel federlosz." 



I believe that Kircher's book was published 

 rather more than two hundred years ago. N. B. 



Altars (Vol. xi., p. 173.). —Although not a 

 subject of great importance, the cool assertion of 

 Ceyeep, that " Catholic altars are always built of 

 stone," should not be allowed to pass without cor- 

 rection. In no communion has it ever been made 

 an essential condition of a " Catholic altar " that it 

 should be of either stone or wood. The whole 

 "Western Church, in communion with Rome or not, 

 has always employed both materials. Let Ceyeep 

 but step across the channel to the "Catholic" 

 country of France, and examine the first large 

 church he comes to, that of S. Wulfran at Abbe- 

 ville, and he will find that the new altars erected 

 last year in the chapels are all of wood, beautifully 

 carved ; and the most cursory tourist in Belgium 



