88 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 36. 



But Cleik of th' Acts, if I'm a parson, then 

 1 shall prevail, the voice outdoes the pen ; 

 Though in a gown, this challenge I may make, 

 And wager win, save if you can, your stake. 

 To th' Admiral I all submit, and vail " 



The book from which I extract is cropped, so 

 that the last line is illegible. Can the noble editor 

 of Pepys' Diary, or any of yonr readers, inform me 

 ■who and what was this Air. James Carkasse ? 



W. B. R. 



iffltitor caucrt'tiS. 



Epigrams on the Universities. — Tliere are two 

 clever epigrams on the circumstance, I believe, of 

 Charles I. sending a troop of horse to one of the 

 imlversities, about the same time that he presented 

 some books to the other. 



The sting of tlie first, if I recollect right, is 

 directed against the university to which the books 

 were sent, the king — 



" right well discerning, 



How much that loyal hody wanted learning." 



The reply which this provoked, is an attack on 

 the other university, the innuendo being that the 

 troops were- sent there — 



" Because that learned body wanted loyalty." 



I quote from memory. 



Can any of your readers, through the medium 

 of your valuable paper, favour me with the correct 

 version of the epigi-ams, and with the particular 

 circumstances which gave rise to them ? 



J. SWANN. 



Norwich. 



Lammas Day. — Why was the 1st of August 

 called " Lammas Day ?" Two definitions are 

 commonly given to the word "Lammas." 1. That 

 it may mean Loaf-mass. 2. Tliat it may be a 

 word having some allusion to St. Peter, as the 

 patron of Lambs. 



O'Halloran, however, in his History of Ireland, 

 favours us with another definition ; upon the value 

 of which I should be glad of the opinion of some 

 of your learned contributors. Spesdcing of Lug- 

 haidh, he says : — 



" From this princp the month of August was called 

 Lughnas ( Lunas), from which the English adopted 

 the name Lnmmas, for the 1st day of August." 



J. Sansom. 



Mother Greys Apples. — At the time I was a 

 little girl, — you will not, I am sure, be ungallant 

 enough to inquire when that was, when I tell you 

 I am now a woman, — I remember that the nursery 

 maid, whose duty it was to wait upon myself and 

 sisters, invariably said, if she found us out of 

 temper — "So, so! young ladies, you are in the 

 sidks, eh ? Well, sulk away ; you'll be like 

 ' Mother Grey's apples,' you'll be sure to come 



round again." We often inquired, on the return 

 of fine weather, who Mother Grey was, and what 

 were the peculiar circumstances of the apples 

 coming round ? — questions, however, which were 

 always evaded. Now, as the servant was a Cam- 

 bridge girl, and had a brother a. gyp, or bedmaker, 

 at one of the colleges, besides her uncle keeping 

 the tennis court there, I have often thought there 

 must have been some college legend or tradition 

 in Alma Mater, of Mother Grey and her apples. 

 Will any of your learned correspondents, should 

 it happen to fall within their knowledge, take 

 pity on the natural curiosity of the sex, by fur- 

 nishing its details ? A. M. 



Jewish Music. — What was the precise character 

 of the Jeimsh music, both before and after David? 

 And what variety of musical instruments had the 

 Jews ? J. Sansom. 



The Plant '■'■ Hfemony.'" — Can any of your readers 

 furnish information of, or reference to the plant 

 Hcemony, mentioned in jMilton's Comus, 1. 638. : — 



" a small unsightly root, 



But of divine effect, 



The leaf was darkish, and had prickles on it, 



But in another country, as he said. 



Bore a brii/ht golden Jimver, but not in tills soil: 



more medicinal is it than that Rloly, 



Tliat Hermes once to wise Ulysses gave; 

 He calltd it Hcrmony, and gave it me. 

 And bade me keep it as of sov'reign use 

 'Gainst all enchantments," &c. &c. 



The Moly that Hermes to Ulysses gave, is the 

 wild garlick, /xa)\u ; by some thought the wild rue. 

 (Odyss. b. X. 1. 302.) It is the nw\v^a of Hippo- 

 crates, who recommends it to be eaten as an anti- 

 dote against drunkenness. But of Hcemony 1 have 

 been unahle to find any reference among our ordi- 

 nary medical authorities, Paulus .^Eginata, Celsus, 

 Galen, or Dioscorides. A short note of reference 

 would be very instructive to many of the readers 

 of Milton. J. M. Basham. 



17. Chester Street, Belgrave Square. 



Ventriloquism. — ^Miat evidence is there, that 

 ventriloquism was made use of in the ancient ora- 

 cles ? Was tlie irvfD^a TTi^floJi'os (Acts, xvi. 16.) an 

 example of the e.xercise of this art ? Was the 

 Witch of Endor a ventriloquist? or what is meant 

 by the word fyyaa-Tpifj.vdos, at Isai. xix. 3., in the 

 Septuagint? 



" Plutarch informs us," says Rollin (Ancient His- 

 tory, vol. i. p. 65.), " that the god did not compose the 

 verses of the oracle. He inflamed the Pythia's ima- 

 gination, and kindled in her soul that living light 

 which unveiled all futurity to her. 'J'he words she 

 uttered in the heat of her enthusiam, having neither 

 method nor conncL'tion, and coming only by starts, to 

 use that expression tyyaarpifivBos, from the bottom of 

 her stomach, or rather from her belly, were collected 



