June 3. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



527 



the English ballad. The other version (which is 

 given by Mr. D.) is entitled " Dicky of Bally- 

 man." J. K. R. W. 



[This reference renders it unnecessary to insert the 

 versions kindly supplied by E. L. H. and J. A.] 



Unregistered Proverbs (Vol. ix., p. 235.). — The 

 following I find among the poor parishioners of 

 Tor-Mohun in Devonshire, and they were new to 

 me. In answer to some remarks of mine on the 

 necessary infirmities of old age, one of them re- 

 plied, " You cannot have two forenoons in the 

 same day." And on another occasion, in answer 

 to my saying that something ought to be done, al- 

 though it was not, there came, " Oughts are no- 

 things unless they've strokes to them." 



Wm. Fraser, B.C.L. 



Orange Blossoms (Vol. viii., p. 341. ; Vol. ix., 

 p. 386.). — I have seen it stated that the use of 

 these flowers at bridals was derived from the 

 Saracens, or at least from the East, and that 

 they were thus employed as emblems of fecundity. 

 Wm. Fraser, B.C.L. 



Peculiar Use of the Word " Pure" (Vol. viii., 

 p. 125.). — Your correspondent is evidently not a 

 Gloucestershire man. The word pure is commonly 

 used in that county to express being in good 

 health. I remember an amusing instance, which 

 occurred many years ago. A gentleman, a friend 

 of mine, who resided in an establishment where 

 young ladies were educated, was met one day by 

 an honest farmer ; who, after inquiring kindly for 

 his own health, said with equal good nature and 

 simplicity, " I hope, Zur, the ladies be all pure." 



Geoucestrensis. 



Worm in Books (Vol. viii., p. 412.). — Alethis 

 is presented with the following recipe from a very 

 curious old French book of receipts and secrets 

 for everything connected with arts and trades. 

 Put some powdered colocynth into a phial, and 

 cover the mouth with parchment pierced with 

 holes. With this the books should be powdered, 

 and from time to time beaten to drive out the 

 powder, when the same process must be repeated. 



F. C. H. 



Chapel Sunday (Vol. vii., p. 527.). — Not having 

 received an answer to my Query of the origin of 

 the celebration of Chapel Sunday in the Lake 

 district, I would venture a surmise which some 

 Cumbrian antiquary will perhaps correct, if wrong. 

 I take it to be the day in honour of the patron 

 saint of the chapel : and now, when such festivals 

 are little observed, it has been changed to the 

 nearest Sunday. In this thinly populated district, 

 and where, from its mountainous and rugged cha- 

 racter, travelling before the formation of the 

 present good roads was neither agreeable nor 

 (probably) safe, "at chapel" was the only time 



many of the inhabitants saw each other. Meeting, 

 therefore, on so auspicious a day as that of the 

 patron saint, might in " merrie time " of old in- 

 duce a little festivity. Prestoniensis. 



Bishop Inglis of Nova Scotia (Vol. vii., p. 263.). 

 — According to a short biography in the Docu- 

 mentary History of New York, vol. iii. p. 1066., this 

 prelate was born a.d. 1734. His birth-place is 

 not mentioned. Some letters and other writings 

 by him may be found in the fourth volume of the 

 same work. Uneda. 



Philadelphia. 



Guita Percha made soluble (Vol. ix., p. 350.). — 

 E. B. can procure at any chemist's establishment 

 a solution of gutta percha in chloroform, which 

 may answer the purpose required by him. It is 

 used by medical men as a dressing for abrasion in 

 the skin of bed-ridden persons, and is applied with 

 a camel's-hair brush. It hardens on being ap- 

 plied, and produces an artificial skin, which saves 

 the patient from farther suffering; in the place to 

 which it has been applied. Experto Crede. 



Naphtha will render gutta percha soluble ; and 

 if needed to be used as a varnish, it is only neces- 

 sary to make a solution in a closed vessel, and 

 apply it with a brush. The naphtha will evaporate 

 and leave a thin coating of firmly- adhering gutta 

 percha behind. Shireet Hibberd. 



Impe (Vol. viii., pp.443. 623.). — This epithet 

 has been much discussed, but I think that no re- 

 ference has been made to the following remark- 

 able instances of its application. 



In the Beauchamp Chapel at St. Mary's War- 

 wick is the altar-tomb and effigy of the infant 

 son of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, with a 

 long inscription, which begins : 



" Heere resteth the body of the noble impe Robert 

 of Dudley, Baronet of Denbigh, sonne of Robert, 

 Erie of Leycester, nephew and heire unto Ambrose, 

 Erie of Warwike." 



In a letter from Edinburgh, dated 5th Novem- 

 ber, 1578, John Aleyn to the Bishop of Carlisle, 

 writes of " the goodly young Imp their King," 

 who was afterwards our James I. ; and the Earl 

 of Shrewsbury in 1585 writes of " my wife and 

 her imps," the lady being his energetic Countess 

 Elizabeth Hardwick, widow of Sir William Ca- 

 vendish. (See Lodge's Illustrations of British 

 History, vol. ii. pp. 135. 275.) R. A. 



Melford. 



" Bothy" (Vol. ix., p. 305.). — For a very com- 

 plete account of "the Bothy system" in Scotland, 

 see the able and interesting pamphlet of the Rev. 

 Harry Stuart : Agricultural Labourers as they 

 were, are, and should be (Blackwood). 



W. C. Trevblyan. 



