May 5. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



353 



Door-head Inscription (Vol. x., p. 253.). — The 

 Barnard Castle parsonage inscription, methinksj 

 would have run as well in honest English : "God's 

 ward is good ward." W. 



Baltimore. 



Heraldry — the Line Dancettie (Vol. xi., p. 308.). 

 — I send a very rough sketch of a specimen of 

 " faces danchees" with the blazon accompanying 

 it. As the earliest quotation made by Broctuna, 

 in your 286th Number, is from " Bossewell," dated 

 1572, this, dated 1555, may interest some of your 

 heraldic readers and correspondents : 



" Messire Charles de Cosse, seigneur de Brissac, Mare- 

 schal de France, mil cinq cens cinquante, au lieu du 

 Prince de Melphe, Chevalier de I'ordre Sainct Michel, 

 Lieutenant-general pour le Roy de France en Italie, du 

 temps du magnaiiinie Henry Roy de France, que Vrasse- 

 bourg diet avoir pris origine de Jean de Crosse, Seneschal 

 de Provence, grand Conseillier du Roy Ren(? de Sicile, 

 natif du Royaume de Naples. Et parte de sable a trots 

 faces DAXCHEES d'or en poincte, par aucuns appelUes 

 feuilles de syes* " — Catalogue des lUustres Mareschanlx de 

 France, a Paris, folio, 15o5. 



H. B. 



Warwick. 



Mothering Sunday (Vol. xf., p. 284.). — This 

 is so called from its being celebrated with un- 

 usual joy and festivity in the middle of Lent ; 

 and from the custom, in consequence, of children 

 going home to their mothers for a holiday. There 

 was extra feasting on that Sunday, and mothering- 

 cakes are still kept up in many parts of England. 

 The Church rejoiced, because on that Sunday the 

 catechumens preparing for baptism on Holy Satur- 

 day were assembled and enregistered ; and the 

 Church, as a pious mother, rejoiced at the near 

 approach of the time when so many new children 

 would be spiritually born to her. Hence the whole 

 office of the Sunday is joyful ; and the altars are 

 decorated, and the ministers vested in white, dis- 

 tinguishing this from all the other Sundays in 

 Lent. It was called Laetare, from the first word 

 of the Introit, which is all joyful. The Epistle, 

 from Gal. iv. 22 — 31., sets forth the peculiar pri- 

 vileges of Christians, as sons of the free- woman, 

 and claiming for their mother that free Jerusalem 

 which is above. The Gospel, from St. John vi. 

 1 — 15., relates the miraculous feeding of five 

 thousand in the desert. So that all concurs to 

 mark this Sunday as one of gladness and brief 

 repose in the midst of the austerities of Lent. 

 Moreover, at Rome, the Pope blesses on this 

 Sunday a golden rose ; that flower being an apt 

 symbol of charity, joy, and delight. F. C. H. 



This festival is still observed in many parts 

 of South Wales, particularly in Monmouthshire ; 



* "'Feuilles de syes,' iu blason, a fesae indented." — 

 Cotgrave's Dictionary. 



and during the previous week, the pastrycooks' 

 shops are gay with mothering-cakes, which re- 

 semble those used on Twelfth Day. 



The custom is for the children of the family to 

 meet at their parents' house, and each of the 

 married children bring a cake for the mother. 

 Amongst the poorer classes, I have known in- 

 stances of servants sending or taking home presents 

 of tea, sugar, &c. to their parents. 



Many other old customs are still kept up in 

 Monmouthshire. It would be considered quite 

 unlucky if there were no pancakes on Shrove 

 Tuesday, or hot-cross-buns on Good Friday. 



Flowering-Sunday is, I believe, almost univer- 

 sally observed throughout South Wales ; and the 

 graves are cleaned and decked on that day with 

 the choicest flowers that can be procured ; where 

 flowers are not numerous, the deficiency is sup- 

 plied by evergreens, and the laurel leaves are 

 often ornamented with gilt leaf. 



At Usk there is an early morning service (Ply- 

 gain), when the Ploly Communion is administered 

 at six o'clock on Easter Sunday morning, as well 

 as on Christmas Day. The Plygain on Christmas 

 morning is, I believe, almost universal throughout 

 the Principality ; but I have not known any other 

 instance of its being held on Easter Day. Isca. 



Grafts and the Parent Tree (Vol. xi., p. 272.).— 

 The supposition that grafts decay with the parent 

 tree, which must mean the original seedling, 

 cannot be true; for the origin of many of our 

 best apples is lo.st in antiquity, and the parent 

 trees must have long since perished, and yet the 

 fruits themselves are commonly to be had in high 

 perfection. In my communication on this subject 

 (Vol. vii., p. 536.) I stated, "that to ensure the 

 success of grafts, care must be taken that they be 

 inserted on congenial stocks;" and this being at- 

 tended to, I see no reason why any kind of apple 

 or pear may not be continued indefinitely. The 

 statement by Mr. Ferguson — 



« That a cutting can onl3^ be a multiplier ; and being 

 of the same age, and same chemical property, must per- 

 form the same functions over the same changing circle of 

 life, and die with the stalk as if it had never been sepa- 

 rated" — 



is very questionable. 



The cutting is probably the formation and growth 

 of the preceding year, and if left on the tree would 

 have made a small shoot or formed blossom buds ; 

 but being cut off, and grafted on a new stock, and 

 thereby supplied with fresh sap, it grows more 

 luxuriantly, and forms a new tree, the foundation 

 and supply of which is the new stock. The sap 

 from the stock is in fact the multiplier, and com- 

 municates a new chemical property, or rather a 

 new life to the graft. If all grafted trees were to 

 die when the original seedling from which they 

 were descended died, some instance would have 



