AntiL 1. 1854.] 



KOTES AND QUEEIES. 



299 



If any readers of " N. & Q." could furnish me 

 with more examples, I should be much obliged. 



John o' the Ford. 

 3Ialta. 



EOLK LOSE. 



Three Maids. — There is a spot on the road 

 from Winchester to Andover called the " Three 

 Maids." They are I believe nameless. Tradition 

 says that they poisoned their father, and were for 

 that crime buried alive up to their necks. Travel- 

 lers passing by were ordered not to feed them ; 

 but one compassionate horseman as he rode along 

 threw the core of an apple to one, on which she 

 subsisted for three days. Wonderful is it to state 

 that three groups of firs sprung up miraculously 

 from the graves of the three maids. Thus their 

 memories have been perpetuated. The peasantry 

 of Winchester and its neighbourhood for the most 

 part accredit the story, and I see no reason for 

 disbelieving the first part of it myself. Does any 

 one know of a like punishment being awarded in 

 •olden times, when the tender mercies of the law 

 were cruel and arbitrary ? 



Mother RusseTs Post. — Whilst I am on the sub- 

 ject of folk lore I may as well add, that on the 

 road to Kings Sombourn, of educational renown, 

 there is a spot where four roads meet. Report 

 says that a certain Mother Russel, who committed 

 suicide, was buried there. A little girl in this 

 village was afraid to pass the spot at night on 

 account of the ghosts, which are supposed to haunt 

 it in the hours of darkness. The rightful name of 

 the place is " Mother Russel's Post." 



Eustace W. Jacob. 



Crawley. 



Shrove Tuesday Custom (Vol. ix., p. 65.). — The 

 Shrove Tuesday custom mentioned by Mr. El- 

 liott as existing at Leicester, and an account of 

 which he quotes from Hone's Year-Booh, has been 

 abolished within the last few years. There is, I 

 believe, still a curious custom on that day at 

 Ludlow, the origin and meaning of which has 

 never, so far as I am aware, been discovered and 

 stated. 



" The corporation," I quote from a history of the 

 town, " provide a rope, three inches in thickness, and 

 in length thirty-six yards, which is given out at one of 

 the windows of the Market House as the clock strikes 

 four, when a large body of the inhabitants, divided 

 into two parties, commence an arduous struggle, and 

 as soon as either party gains the victory by pulling the 

 rope beyond the prescribed limits, the pulling ceases, 

 •&c. 



" Without doubt this singular custom is symbolical 

 of some remarkable event, and a remnant of that an- 

 cient language of visible signs, which, says a celebrated 



writer, ' imperfectly supplies the want of letters to 

 perpetuate the remembrance of public or private 

 transactions.' The sign in this instance has survived 

 the remembrance of the occurrence it was designed to 

 represent, and remains a profound mystery. It has 

 been insinuated that the real occasion of this custom is 

 known to the corporation, but that, for some reason or 

 other, they are tenacious of the secret." 



The local historian then mentions an "obscure 

 tradition," but as it is not in agreement with my 

 own opinion, I omit it. S. P. Q. 



stornello. 



Verses, the rhymes of which return after the 

 fashion of those printed in "N. & Q." (Vol. vi., 

 p. 603., and Vol. vii., p. 174.), are commonly cur- 

 rent among the peasants of Tuscany, and in 

 many instances form the materials of their popu- 

 lar songs. It is probable that this description of 

 rhyme originated in the " bel paese la dove '1 si 

 suona." They usually turn on a combination of 

 three words, as in those quoted in Vol. vii. of 

 " JST. & Q." And the name stornello, as will be 

 readily perceived, is derived from tornare, to re- 

 turn. I send you a specimen of one of them, 

 which has a certain degree of historical interest 

 attached to it, from its connexion with the move- 

 ment of 1848. It was difficult to walk through 

 the streets of Florence in those days without hear- 

 ing it carolled forth by more than one Florentine 

 Tyrtasus. Now, I need hardly say, "we never 

 mention it — its name is never heard." The pa- 

 triot-flag was a tricolor of white, red, and green, 

 a nosegay of which colours a youth has brought to 

 his mistress. She sings as follows : 



■ E gli dird cbe il verde, il rosso, il bianco 

 Gli stanno ben con una spada al fianco. 

 E gli dird che il bianco, il verde, il rosso, 

 Vuol dir che Italia il duro giogo ha scosso. 

 E gli diro che il rosso, il bianco, il verde 

 E un terno che si giuoca e non si perde." 



Of which the following rough version may serve 

 to give a sufficiently-accurate idea of the mean- 

 ing, for the benefit of your " country gentlemen " 

 readers : 



" And I'll tell him the green, and the red, and the 

 white 

 Would look well by his side as a sword-knot so 



bright. 

 And I'll tell him the white, and the green, and the 



red 

 Mean, our country has flung the vile yoke from her 



head. 

 And I'll tell him the red, and the white, and the 



green 

 Is the prize that we play for, a prize that we'll win." 



" Un terno che si giuoca " is a phrase which 

 refers to the system of the public lotteries, esta- 



