June 23. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



483 



Signification of Colours. — The following, which 

 I recently met with in an old common-place book, 

 may not prove an uninteresting note, particularly 

 as in some parts of the country 'certain colours 

 have still a proverbial signification, such as blue, 

 true ; yellow, jealous ; green, forsaken, &c. : 



" Ash colour - - - - Repentance. 



Black ■ _ - - - MournefuU. 



Blue Truth. 



Carnation ----- Desire. 



Crimson ----- Cruelty. 



Greene ----- Hopeful. 



Mouse colour - - - - Fearefull. 



Murry *----- Secret Love. 



Orange colour - - - - Spitefulnesse. 



Purple ----- Nobility. 



Sky colour - - - - Heavenly. 



Tawny ----- Forsaken. 



White ----- Innocencj'. 



Willow colour - - - - Despaire. 



Yellow ----- Jealousie." 



Cl. Hopper. 



Origin of the Ballet. — The following memo- 

 randum, taken from a note-book of the last cen- 

 tury, may perhaps not be uninteresting. Probably 

 some of the readers of " N. & Q." may be able to 

 determine when the ballet was first introduced 

 into this country : 



" Mr. Weaver, dancing-master, a't Shrewsbury, was the 

 first v' ever exhibited entertainments in dancing (called 

 y" ' Judgm' of Paris ') on y"= modern stage. Tlie whole 

 performance is by dancing and action only, y" habits are 

 very rich, y" characters well express'd, and y" whole 

 excellently perform'd, w"^ all decorations proper to y* 

 subject." 



Ci,. Hopper. 



Junius, Letters of — The following paragraph 

 appeared in the Bengal Hurkaru, published in 

 Calcutta on Feb. 19 last : 



" The Englishman [a military newspaper published in 

 Calcutta] states that there is a gentleman in Calcutta, 

 who possesses ' an original document, the publication of 

 which would for ever set at rest the vexata quastio as to 

 the authorship of the Letters of Junius.' The document, 

 which we have seen, is what our cotemporary describes it 

 to be, and bears three signatures : that of ' Chatham ' on 

 the right-hand side of the paper ; and on the left, those of 

 Dr. VVilmot, and J. Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashburton. 

 The paper, the ink, and the writing all induce us to be- 

 lieve that the document is genuine ; and we understand 

 that the gentleman, in whose possession it is, has other 

 documentary evidence corroborative of this, which still 

 farther tends to clear up the riddle which so many have 

 attempted to read with small success." 



Alan Henrt Swatman. 

 Lynn. 



Notes on Fly-leaves : Parr's Preface to Bel- 

 lendeiius. — My copy of Parr's Preface to Bellen- 

 denus {Prefationis ad Tres Gulielmi Bellendcni 

 Libros, De Statu, editio secunda, 8vo., London, 

 1788) has inscribed in it the names of two former 



* A dark reddish-brown, called by the heralds sanguine. 



owners: "E libris Gual' Grubbe," and "E libris 

 Joannis Guard." The latter was a clergyman, 

 residing I believe at or near Leominster. Of the 

 former, I know nothing. On the back of the 

 title-page is the following : 



" KaKei^'O ov ixiKpov fiSAAov Se to fieyiiTTOV afxapTavei^ on ov 

 Trporepov ras Siafoias t<oi' Xe^iiav Trpo^apacTK'euatr^e'fos eireira 

 Ko.TaKotTjxel'; tois prjiJ-atri, koX tois ovoiiacriv- a\K' rji' ttov prifioi 

 ejLC<^i/Aoc evprj<: tovto> fijreis Siiuoiav i^apixotrai. Koi ^-qiMiav rjyr) 

 av fi>) irapa/Sticrjj? auTO nov Koiv t<3 KeyoiJ.ii/a /xr]5' avdyKCUOU J}"' 

 — Lucian, Lexiphanes. 



" I really think, friend Walter, that 

 Thy motto's apposite and pat ; 

 Nor could the Doctor's self, whose pate is 

 Cramm'd with quotations phis quam satis 

 (As any one may see, whose look 

 But glances o'er this motley book), 

 Amidst liis hoards of Greek and Latin, 

 E'er find one that would come more pat in, 



Jy. Guubbe." 



On the last page of the volume, at the close bt 

 the " Corrigenda," some one has written this very 

 complimentary correction : " Ab initio ad fmem, 

 dele omnia." Underneath is the following couplet 

 from Pope : 



" Such mightj' nothings, in so strange a style. 

 Amaze the unlearn'd, and make the learned smile." 



Some critical and other notes are scattered 

 throughout the volume ; and I would have tran- 

 scribed tliem, but for the difficulty of making 

 them intelligible, without more copious extracts 

 from Parr's " motley " text than might suit the 

 columns of " N. & Q." H. Martin. 



Halifax, 



Manners and Customs of the Irish in 1 760. — 



" Dublin, April 8. We are credibly informed that our 

 people of fashion are determined for the future to give all 

 their winnings on Sundays at gaming to the support 

 of the Foundling Hospital, in imitation of the Koman 

 Catholics ; who always give the money they win on that 

 day to charitable uses." — London Chronicle, April 17th, 

 17G0. 



H. G. D. 



Wild Bayrell. — Wild Dayrell, the winner of 

 the Derby, so named after the predecessors of the 

 Pophams'in the possession of Littlecote, is probably 

 spelt with a y, in compliment to the family still 

 seated at Lillingston in Bucks, though it is beyond 

 controversy that the Wiltshire branch always 

 spelt it " Darell," as shown in various acts of par- 

 liament and other documents ; and so also is it 

 still pronounced in the neighbourhood. Notwith- 

 standing which, a score of flags were flying at 

 Hungerford when the conqueror was brought home 

 by rail a fortnight back, all inscribed Dayrell. 



. J. w. 



Easterly Winds. — The unusual prevalence of 

 those winds here renders the following quotation 

 from Bacon not a little interesting, though it is 

 by no means cheering. It is taken from his 



