Mar. 17. 1855.1 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



203 



Maratti, Poussin, Julio Romano, and other masters 

 of the poetical and romantic. 



It appears then that the furniture of Thomson 

 was valued at G61. lis., exclusive of his plate, 

 china, wine, books, and pictures, which formed by 

 far the most costly and valuable portion of his 

 effects. The sale is stated to be " by order of the 

 executrix," his sister Mrs. Craig of Edinburgh, 

 and it was to take place on Monday, May 15, 1749, 

 and two following days. The poet's friends, who 

 had been so sincere and so active in their sympathy 

 on the occasion of his death, would no doubt come 

 forward at the sale to promote its success, and to 

 possess themselves of some relic of their departed 

 associate. John Forbes of CuUoden, the "joyous 

 youth" of the Castle of Indolence (canto i. st. 62.), 

 bought the Shakspeare, Raleigh's History, Hav- 

 rington's Oceana, Sec, and they still remain in the 

 library at CuUoden House. R. Carruthebs. 



Inverness. 



TJNLUCKT DAYS. 



The following list of the evil days in each month 

 may find a place by the side of the "Old French 

 monthly Rules," given in " N. & Q." of Feb. 3. I 

 have extracted these verses from the old Sarum 

 ]\Iissal : 



"January. Prima dies mensis, et septima truncat ut 

 en sis. 

 Fehrtiary. Quarta subiit mortem : prosternit tertia 



fortem. 

 March. Primus mandentem : disrupit quarta bibentem. 

 April. Denus et undenus, est mortis vulnere plenus. 

 May. Tertius occidit, et Septimus hora relidit. 

 June. Denus pallescit ; quindenus fedora nescit. 

 July. Terdecimus mactat : Julii denus labefactat. 

 Aitgust. Prima necat fortem: perditque secunda co- 



hortem. 

 September. Tertia Septembris, et denus fert mala mem- 



bris. 

 October. Tertius et denus, est slcut mors alienus. 

 November. Scorpius est quintus: et tertius est nece 



tinctus. 

 December. Septimus exanguis : virosus denus ut an- 

 guis." 



Having thus transcribed these portentous warn- 

 ings, tbe thought struck me to attempt a trans- 

 lation of them, which I send, as it may be deemed 

 at least as elegant as the original. 



January. Of this first month, the opening day 

 And seventh like a sword will slay. 

 February. The fourth daj- bringeth down to death, 



The third will stop a strong man's breath. 

 March. The first the greedy glutton slays, 



The fourth cuts short the drunkard's days. 

 April. Tlie tenth and the eleventh, too, 



Are ready death's fell work to do. 

 May. The third to slay poor man hath power. 



The seventh destroyeth in an hour. 

 June. The tenth a pallid visage shows, 



No faith nor tinice the fifteenth knows. 

 July. The thirteenth is a fatal day. 



The tenth alike will mortals slay. 



August. The first kills strong ones at a blow, 



The second lays a cohort low. 

 September. The third day of the month September, 

 And tenth, bring evil to each member. 

 October. The third and tenth, with poison'd breath. 



To man are foes as foul as death. 

 November. The fifth bears scorpion sting of deadly pain. 

 The third is tinctured with destruction's 

 train. 

 December. The seventh's a fatal day to human life. 

 The tenth is with a serpent's venom rife. 



F. C. HUSENBETH. 



When will the Turks he driven out of Europe ? 

 — The admirers of Addison will remember one 

 of his most humorous papers in The Toiler 

 (No. 155.), in which he describes his interview in 

 St. James's Park with a great politician, in the 

 form of a decayed upholsterer. The topics dis- 

 cussed on that occasion have a curious identity 

 with those at present agitating the public mind. 



" The chief politican of the bench was a great assertor 

 of paradoxes. He told us, with a seeming concern, that 

 by some news he had lately read from Muscovy, it ap- 

 peared to him that there was a storm gathering in the 

 Black Sea, which might in time do hurt to the naval 

 forces of this nation. To this he added, that, for his part, 

 he did not wish to see the Turk driven out of Europe, 

 which he believed could not but be prejudicial to our 

 woollen manufacture. He then told us, that he looked 

 upon those extraordinary revolutions which had lately 

 happened in those parts of the world, to have risen chiefly 

 from two persons, who were not much talked of ; ' and 

 these,' says he, ' are Prince Menzikoff and the Duchess of 

 Mirandola.' " 



Thus we see that, nearly a century and a half 

 ago, the very bugbear existed which flourishes in 

 our day. May we not hope that, a hundred years 

 hence, it will still be matter of speculation " when 

 the Great Turk will be driven out of Europe ? " 



F. 



Bloodhounds in the West Indies. — In Pulleyn's 

 Etymological Compendium, edited by Mr. Morton 

 A. Thoms, I find the following statement, at 

 p. 171., under the head of. " Dogs :" 



"The bloodhound was once peculiar to this country; 

 but now is seldom met with, save in the West India 

 Islands, particularly St. Domingo and the island of 

 St. Lucia." 



It is doubtful whether the true bloodhound is 

 to be foimd in any part of the West Indies. The 

 species peculiar to the Spanish Islands was origin- 

 ally employed in the pursuit of wild cattle ; and 

 it is thus described in a note to Bryan Edwards' 

 History of the West Indies, Appendix to vol. i. 

 p. 570. : 



" Though these dogs are not in general larger than the 

 shepherds' dogs in England (which, in truth, they much 

 resemble), they were represented as equal to the mastiff 



