June 9. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



447 



in Mr. John Russell SralthV Catalogue for the pre- 

 sent year (p. 237.) it is called " a series of clever 

 jeiix d'esprit after the manner of the Rejected 

 Addresses, by AV. F. Deacon." Is this statement 

 correct ? and if so, who was W. F. Deacon ? 



Uneda. 

 Philadelphia. 



[William Frederick Deacon was the author of War- 

 reniana. He was born July 26, 1799, educated at Reading 

 school, and entered at St.* Catherine's Hall, Cambridge. 

 His first poem, Haco, or the Spell of St. Wilten, found 

 a publisher in William Hone. His next work was The 

 Dcjeuni, or Companion for the Breakfast Table, a daily 

 periodical. In 1822 he published his clever sketches, 

 entitled The Innkeeper's Album; in 1824, Warreniana, 

 which was followed by November Nights; and in 1835, 

 The Exile of Erin ; or the Sorrows of a Bashful Irishman. 

 He was a frequent contributor to the Sun newspaper, as 

 well as to Blackwood's Magazine. In the latter ho was 

 the writer of " The Picture Gallery," continued at in- 

 tervals from 1837 to 1839. Mr. Deacon died March 18, 

 1845, at Islington, aged forty-six. A tale by him, 

 entitled Annette, in 3 vols., was published in 1852, by 

 Sir T. N. Talfourd, his fellow-pupil at Keading, who has 

 prefixed a memoir of the author. ] 



" Imbosk" " Strook." — 



" They fear the plain field of the Scriptures ; the chase 

 is too hot ; they seek the dark, the bush}', the tangled 

 forest, they would imbosk ; tlie\- feel themselves strook in 

 the transparent streams of divine truth, they would plunge 

 and tumble, and think to lie hid in the foul weeds and 

 muddy waters, where no plummet can reach the bottom." 

 — Milton. 



I am anxious to know the meaninj^ of the words 

 in Italics ? Clericus (D.) 



[The former word is given in Blount's Glossographia : 

 *' Imbosk (Fr. emhosquer), to hide or shroud oneself in a 

 wood. — Seism. Disp." See also Webster's Dictionary. 

 For the latter word, see Halliwell : " Sruooiv, struck 

 (Sufiblk). Strooken occurs in Honours Academic, 1610, 

 i. 43. 67.: 



* 'Twas profit spoyld the world. Till then, we know it. 

 The usurer strook sayles unto the poet.' "] 



Gerard Douw. — I should feel obliged by a 

 reference to any work in which the best descrip- 

 tion of the works of Gerard Douw is contained, 

 particularly of those which have been engraved. 



Constant Readek. 



Bury St. Edmunds. 



[A full description of the works of this admirable artist 

 is given in Smith's Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of 

 Painters, vol. i. pp. 1 — 45., vol. ix. pp. 1 — 24. ] 



Mines — "Hue!," or '^WheaL" — The various 

 mines in the Cornish district have generally the 

 prefix Wheal; as. Wheal Friendship, Wheal Hope, 

 &c. In an early History of Cornwall, I find the 

 prefix is Huel; as, Huel Unity, Huel Friendship, 

 Huel Jewel. Which is correct, and what is the 

 signification of the term ? R. II. B. 



Bath. 



[Both words have the same meaning, and will be found 

 in the Glossary in Polwhele's Cornwall : " Huel, a tin 



work or mine;" this seems to be the old spelling. 

 " Wheat, a mine or work." Polwhele's motto is " Ka- 

 renza whelas karenza : " Love worketh love, or seekcth 

 love.] 



^e^Xiti, 



THE RED HAND. 



(Vol. ii., pp. 451. 506, 507. ; Vol. iii., p. 194.) 



I have heard several stories similar to those 

 about the Holts, Gresleys, &c., but do not think 

 them worth repeating ; indeed, some fifty years- 

 ago, ere railways, Penny Encyclopaedias, &c., had 

 converted our rustics into politicians and philoso- 

 phers, it is very probable that wherever a baronet 

 was located in a remote country district (more 

 particularly if any tragic event had ever occurred 

 in the family), some such story would be found. 



It appears to me that another and a higher in- 

 terest attaches to this mysterious symbol. Its 

 occurrence in so many and such widely separated 

 localities, I should expect, would recommend it to 

 the notice of antiquaries and ethnologists. 



In North America the red hand is used by all 

 Indian tribes speaking dialects of the Algonquin, 

 to denote supplication to the Great Spirit ; and in 

 their system of picture-writing, as a symbol of 

 strength, power, or mastery, thus derived: "In 

 ceremonial observances of their dances, as well a» 

 in their pictorial writing, a sacred character is 

 always assigned to it." I quote from Stephens' 

 Yucatan, Sfc, vol. ii. p. 476., a note from Mr. 

 Schoolcraft, very interesting, but too long to be 

 given here. 



Mr. Sullivan {Rambles in North and South 

 America, 1850, p. 143.), who witnessed the use of 

 the red hand by the Indians (apparently without 

 ascertaining its meaning), observes that Tamer- 

 lane adopted the impression of a bloody hand for 

 his mark on all state occasions. He does not give 

 his authority ; perhaps it is D'Herbelot ? 



Catlin, as far as I recollect, makes no mention 

 of this symbol, nor have I ever seen it myself 

 among our Indians. Its next appearance is in 

 Central America. Mr. Stephens, describing the 

 " Casa del Gobernador " at Uxmal, says : 



" Over the cavity left in the mortar by the stone were 

 two conspicuous marks, which afterwards stared us in the 

 face in all the ruined buildings of the countr3\ They 

 were the prints of a red hand, with the thumb and fingers 

 extended, not drawn or painted, but stamped by the 

 living hand, the pressure of the palm upon the stone. 

 He who made it had stood before it alive as we did, and 

 pressed his hand, moistened with red paint, hard against 

 the stone," &c. — Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Lond.^ 

 1843, vol. i. p. 177. 



He farther remarks: "There was one striking 

 feature about these hands ; they were exceedingly 

 small," &c. 



Crossing the Atlantic, we again find our symbol 

 on the shores of the Old World. Mr. Urquhart 



