250 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 229. 



Oulton, of the priest de Bacon, 1310, has a 



lion ; that of the Abbot Delamere, at St. Albans, 

 1375, two dragons; that of a priest at North 

 Mimms, about 1360, a stag; and, still more ex- 

 traordinary, that of Laurence Seymour, a priest, 

 at Higham Ferrers, 1337, two dogs contending 

 for a bone. F. C. H. 



(Vol. viii., pp. 366. 624. ; Vol. ix., p. 63.) 



I can add another item of the folk lore to those 

 already quoted. One of the salutations, by which 

 a sneezer is greeted amongst the lower class of 

 Romans at the present day, is Figli maschi, " May 

 you have male children ! " 



The best essay on sneezing, that I am acquainted 

 ■with, is to be found in Strada's Prolusions, book iii. 

 Prol. 4., in which he replies at some length, and 

 not unamusingly, to the Query, " Why are sneezers 

 saluted ? " It seems to have arisen out of an 

 occurrence which had recently taken place at 

 Rome, that a certain Pistor Suburranus, after 

 having sneezed twenty-three times consecutively, 

 had expired at the twenty-fourth sneeze : and his 

 object is to prove that Sigonius was mistaken in 

 supposing that the custom of saluting a sneezer 

 had only dated from the days of Gregory the 

 Great, when many had died of the plague in the 

 act of sneezing. In opposition to this notion, he 

 adduces passages from Apuleius and Petronius 

 Arbiter, besides those from Ammianus, Athe- 

 nasus, Aristotle, and Homer, already quoted in 

 your pages by Mr. F. J. Scott. He then pro- 

 ceeds to give five causes from which the custom 

 may have sprung, and classifies them as religious, 

 medical, facetious, poetical, and augural. 



Under the first head, he argues that the salu- 

 tation given to sneezers is not a mere expression 

 of good wishes, but a kind of veneration : " for," 

 says he, " we rise to a person sneezing, and hum- 

 bly uncover our heads, and deal reverently with 

 him." In proof of this position, he tells us that 

 in Ethiopia, when the emperor sneezed, the salu- 

 tations of his adoring gentlemen of the privy 

 chamber were so loudly uttered as to be heard 

 and re-echoed by the whole of his court ; and 

 thence repeated in the streets, so that the whole 

 city was in simultaneous commotion. 



The other heads are then pursued with con- 

 siderable learning, and some humour ; and, under 

 the last, he refers us to St. Augustin, De Doctr. 

 Christ, ii. 20., as recording that — 

 *' When the ancients were getting up in the morning, 

 if they chanced to sneeze whilst putting on their shoes, 

 they immediately went back to bed again, in order 

 that they might get up more auspiciously, and escape 

 the misfortunes which were likely to occur on that 

 day." 



One almost wishes that people now-a-days would 

 sometimes consent to follow their example, when 

 they have " got out of bed the wrong way." 



C. W. Bingham. 



SIR JOHN DE MORANT. 



(Vol. ix., p. 56.) 



In answer to the Query of H. H. M., I beg to 

 state that the Sir John de Morant chronicled by 

 Froissart was Jean de Morant, Chevalier, Seigneur 

 d'Escours, and other lordships in Normandy. He 

 was fourth in descent from Etienne de Morant, 

 Chevalier, living A.r>. 1245, and son of Etienne de 

 Morant and his wife Marie de Pottier. His pos- 

 terity branched off into many noble Houses ; as 

 the Marquis de Morant, and Mesnil- Gamier, the 

 Count de Panzes, the Barons of Fontenay, Ru- 

 pierre, Bieville, Coulonces, the Seigneurs de Cour- 

 seulles, Brequigny, &c. 



The Sire Jean de Morant, born a.d. 1346, was 

 the hero of the following adventure, quoted from 

 an ancient chronicle of Brittany, by Chesnaye- 

 Desbois. It appears that the Sire de Morant was 

 one of five French knights, who fought a combat 

 a Voutrance against an equal number of English 

 challengers, with the sanction, and in the pre- 

 sence, of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 

 a.d. 1381-2. The result^ was in favour of the 

 French. The chronicle proceeds : 



" Le Sire de Morant s'etant principalement distingue 

 dans cette action, un Chevalier Anglois lui proposa 

 de venger, tete-a-tete, la defaite de ses compatriotes, 

 et qu'ils en vinrent aux mains ; mais que l'Anglois, 

 qu'une indisposition aux genouils avoit force' de com- 

 battre sans bottes garnies, avoit engage son adversaire 

 de quitter les siennes, en promettant, parole d'honneur, 

 de ne point abuser de cette condescendance, a quoi le 

 Sire de Morant consentit: le perfide Anglois ne lui 

 tint pas parole, et lui porta trois coups d'epee dans la 

 jambe. Le Due de Lancastre, qui en fut temoin, fit 

 arreter ce lache, et le fit mettre entre les mains du Sire 

 de Morant, pour tirer telle vengeance qu'il jugeroit a 

 propos, ou du moins le contraindre a lui payer une 

 forte rancon. Le Seigneur de Morant remercia ce 

 Prince, en lui disant ' qu'il etoit venu de Bretagne 

 non pour de l'or, mais pour Phonneur,' et le supplia de 

 recevoir en grace l'Anglois, attribuant a son peu d'a- 

 dresse ce qui n'etoit que l'effet de sa trahison. Le Due 

 de Lancastre, charme d'une si belle reponse, lui envoya 

 une coupe d'or et une somme considerable. Morant 

 refusa la somme, et se contenta de la coupe d'or, par 

 respect pour le Prince." 



There is a short account of the branch of Mo- 

 rant de Mesnil-Garnier in the Genealogie de 

 France, by Le Pere Anselme, vol. ix. ; but a very 

 full and complete pedigree is contained in the 

 eighth volume of the Diet, de la Noblesse Franqaise, 

 by M. de la Chesnaye-Desbois. 



