528 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 240. 



Work on Ants (Vol. ix., p. 303.). — I presume 

 that the work for which 2. inquires is, Recherch.es 

 sur les Mceurs des Fourmis indigenes, par P. Huber, 

 Paris, 1810.* 'AAteis. 



Dublin. 



Jacobite Garters (Vol. viii., p. 586.). — I have 

 lately seen a watch-ribbon, or perhaps garter, 

 with a Jacobite inscription in white letters some- 

 what like that described by E. L. J., but only 

 about half the length. The middle stripe was red 

 between two blue ones, and yellow edges ; there 

 was no attempt at a plaid. The owner had no tra- 

 dition about it, as connected with any particular 

 incident in Prince Charles' career. P. P. 



" The Three Pigeons " (Vol. ix., p. 423.). — 

 I think Washington Irving, in his Life of Gold- 

 smith, satisfactorily explains the origin of the song 

 in She Stoops to Conquer, which your correspon- 

 dent G. Taylor supposes was suggested by the 

 inn at Brentford, mentioned by Dr. Rimbault. 

 The American biographer says that Goldsmith 

 and his companion Bryanton 



" Got up a country club at the inn at Ballymahon, of 

 ■which Goldsmith soon became the oracle and prime 

 wit ; astonishing his unlettered associates by his 

 learning, and being considered capital at a song and 

 story. From the rustic conviviality of the inn at 

 Ballymahon, and the company which used to assemble 

 there, it is surmised that he took some hints in after- 

 life for his picturing of Tony Lumpkin and his asso- 

 ciates, ' Dick Muggins the exciseman, Jack Slang the 

 horse doctor, Little Aminadab that grinds the music- 

 box, and Tom Twist that spins the pewter-platter.' 

 Nay, it is thought that Tony's drinking-song at the 

 * Three Jolly Pigeons ' was but a revival of one of the 

 convivial catches at Ballymahon." 



And the author farther remarks, that 

 f Though Goldsmith ultimately rose to associate with 

 birds of a finer feather, his heart would still yearn in 

 secret after the * Three Jolly Pigeons.' " 



If this be correct, as it most likely is, the song 

 referred to, and the scene it illustrates, were not 

 suggested by the inn at Brentford. B. M. 



Philadelphia. 



The alehouse situate at Lishoy in Ireland, where 

 Goldsmith's father was vicar, was, no doubt, "The 

 Three Pigeons " of She Stoops to Conquer. There is 



[* Our correspondent 2. begs us to acknowledge the 

 favour of the communication of 'AMevs, but his inquiry 

 " on the habits of ants " is by an author, a M. Hauhart, 

 and of a much later date than Huber's. He is in- 

 formed it is to be found in the Transactions of the 

 University of Basle in Switzerland, published with this 

 title, Die Zeitschrift der Basler Hochschule, 1825, p. 62. ; 

 but he has not been successful in obtaining a sight of 

 that work.] 



a sketch of it in the Tourist's Handbook for Ireland, 

 p. 175. The author refers to Mr. John Forster's 

 Life of Goldsmith, which I have not at hand. 



Thompson Coopek. 

 Cambridge. 



Corporation Enactments (Vol. ix., p. 300.). — 

 It is an easy, but generally an unsafe thing to 

 quote from quotations. Abhba should have re- 

 ferred to The Dublin Penny Journal, vol. i. p. 226., 

 for his extracts from the Town Books of the Cor- 

 poration of Youghal, co. Cork ; and, even then, 

 might have made farther reference to Crofton 

 Croker's Researches in the South of Ireland, p. 160., 

 whence the paragraph (unacknowledged) was in- 

 troduced into The Dublin Penny Journal. Mr. 

 Croker, moreover, fell into error with respect to 

 the dates of these curious enactments, which were 

 long antecedent to 1680 and 1703. I have seen 

 them in the original (Book A), and vouch for the 

 accuracy of the subjoined : 



" 1613-14. Thomas Geoffry made a freeman (being 

 a barber), on condition that he should trim every 

 freeman for sixpence per ami. 



" 1622. John Bayly made free, on condition to 

 dress the dinners of the several Mayors." 



I may give you some farther extracts from a 

 MS. Note Book relative to this corporation at a 

 future period. Samuel Hayman, Clk. 



South Abbey, Youghal. 



The Passion of our Lord dramatised (Vol. ix., 

 p. 373.). — A drama on the Passion of Christ (the 

 first specimen of the kind that has descended to 

 our days) is attributed to St. Gregory of Nazian- 

 zum, but is more probably the production of 

 Gregory of Antioch (a.d. 572). It is described 

 by most of the ecclesiastical writers : Tillemont, 

 Baillet, Baronius, Bellarmin, Dupin, Vossius, 

 Rivet, Labba3us, Ceillier, Fleury, &c. 



In 1486, when La Mistere de la Passion, or the 

 Passion of our Saviour, was exhibited at Antwerp, 

 the beholders were astonished by five different 

 scaffolds, each having several stages rising per- 

 pendicularly : paradise was the most elevated, 

 and it had two stages. But even this display was 

 eclipsed by another exhibition of The Passion, 

 where no fewer than nine scaffolds were displayed 

 to the wondering gaze of the people. 



In 1556, according to Strype (Life of Sir Thos. 

 Pope, Pref. p. vii.), the Passion of Christ was re- 

 presented at the Grey Friers in London, on Cor- 

 pus Christi Day, before the Lord Mayor, the 

 Privy Council, and many great persons of the 

 realm. Again, the same historian informs us 

 (Ecclesiastical Memorials, iii. c. xlix.) under the 

 date 1557 : 



" The Passion of Christ was acted at the Grey 

 Friers on the day that war was proclaimed against 

 France, and in honour of that occasion." 



