186 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 226. 



" Horam coram dago" (Vol. ix., p. 58.). — Your 

 correspondent 2. is probably thinking of Burns' 

 lines " Written in a wrapper, inclosing a letter to 

 Captain Grose," &c. : 



" Ken ye auglit o' Captain Grose? 

 Igo et ago, 

 If he's among his friends or foes, 

 Iram, coram, dago." 



It is not very likely, however, that this should 

 be the first appearance of this " burden," any more 

 than of " Fal de ral," which Burns gives to other 

 pieces both before and after this. It may have a 

 meaning (as I believe one has been found for 

 ■ Lilliburlero," &c), but I should think it more 

 likely to be sheer gibberish. 



By the way, how comes burden to be used in 

 the sense of "chorus or refrain?" I believe we 

 have the authority of Shakspeare for so doing. 



" Foot it featly here and there 

 And let the rest the burden bear?" 



Is it the bourdon, or big 'drone ? Certainly the 

 chorus could not " bear a burden," in the sense of 

 hard work, even before the time of Hullah. 



J. P. Orde. 



In Chambers' Scottish Songs, Edinburgh, 1829, 

 p. 273. is a piece beginning — 



" And was you e'er in Crail toun ? 

 , Igo and ago : 

 And saw ye there clerk Fishington ? 

 Sing irom, igon, ago." 



And in Blackwood for Jan. 1831 ("Noctes Ambro- 

 sianse, No. 53.") is " A Christmas Carol in honour 

 of Maga, sung by the Contributors," which begins 

 thus — 



" When Kit North is dead, 

 What will Maga do, Sir ? 

 She must go to bed, 



And like him die too, Sir ! 

 Fal de ral de ral, 



Iram coram dago ; 

 Fal de ral de ral, 



Here's success to Maga !" 



I suspect that the "chorus or refrain" of the 

 first of these ditties suggested that of the second ; 

 and that this is the song which was running in 

 your contributor's head. J. C. R. 



[We are also indebted to S. Wmson, F. Crossley, 

 E. H., R. S. S., and J. Ss. for similar replies. See Burns' 

 Works, edit. 1800, vol. iv. p. 399., and edit. Glasgow, 

 1843, vol. i. p. 113.] 



Children by one Mother (Vol. v., p. 126.). — In 

 reply to the Query, " If there be any well-authen- 

 ticated instance of a woman having had more than 

 twenty-five children," I can furnish you with what 

 I firmly believe to be such an instance. The nar- 

 rator was a relative of my late wife, a man of the 

 very highest character in the City of London for 



many years, and formerly clerk to the London 

 Bridge (Old) Water Works, a mark by which he 

 may possibly be recognised by some of your 

 readers. I have heard him relate, that once, as 

 he was travelling into Essex, he met with a very 

 respectable woman, apparently a farmer's wife, 

 who during the journey several times expressed 

 an anxious desire to reach home, which induced 

 my informant at length to inquire the cause of so 

 great an anxiety. Her reply was, " Indeed, Sir, 

 if you knew, you would not wonder at it." When, 

 upon his jocularly saying, " Surely she could have 

 no cause for so much desire to reach home," she 

 said farther, that " The number of her children 

 was the cause, for that she had thirty children, it 

 having pleased God to give to her and her hus- 

 band fifteen boys ; and because they were much 

 dissatisfied at having no girl, in order to punish 

 their murmuring and discontent, He was pleased 

 farther to send them fifteen girls." I. R. R. 



Parochial Libraries (Vol. viii. passim). — In 

 the small village of Halton, Cheshire, there is a 

 small public library, of no inconsiderable extent 

 and importance, founded in 1733 by Sir John 

 Chesshyre, Knight, of Hallwood in that county. 

 Of the works comprised in the collection, the fol- 

 lowing may be selected as best worthy of mention : 

 Dugdale's Monasticon, Rymer's Fcedera, Walton's 

 Polyglot, and a host of standard ecclesiastical 

 authors, interspersed with modern additions of 

 more general interest. The curate for the time 

 being officiates as librarian ; the books being pre- 

 served in a small stone building set apart for the 

 purpose, in the vicinity of his residence. Over 

 the door is the following inscription : 



" Hanc Bibliothecam, 



pro communi literatorum usu, 



sub cura curati capellae de Halton 



proventibus ter feliciter augmentata?, 



Johannes Chesshyre miles 



serviens D'ni Regis ad legem, 



D. D. D. 



Anno MDCCXXXIII." 



Sir John, the founder, was buried at Runcorn, 

 where a monument exists to his memory, bearing 

 the following epitaph at its foot : 



" A wit's a feather, and a chiefs a rod, 

 An honest man's the noblest work of God." 



The parishes of Stoke Damarel, Devon, and of 

 St. James the Great, Devonport, have each their 

 parochial library : the former commenced in 

 1848, by the Rev. W. B. Flower, late curate of 

 the parish; and the latter by the Rev. W. B. 

 Killpack, the first incumbent of the district. 



T. Hughes.. 



Chester. 



