July 13. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



101 



lutive powers of the corporation were at that time 

 very ample ; and the only condition by which they 

 appear to liave been limited was, that they should 

 not override an act of parliament or a royal pro- 

 clamation. 



Is there any specific account of the "tonne in 

 Cornhyll " existing? Its purpose, in connection 

 with the conduit, admits of no doubt ; the for- 

 sworn and dishonest priest had been punished with 

 a " j^ood ducking," and this, no doubt, accompanied 

 with a suitable ceremonial for the special amuse- 

 ment of the "'prentices." * 



I have also marked a few passages relative to the 

 police and the fiscal laws of those days, and when 

 time permits, will transcribe them for you, if you 

 deeut them worthy of being laid belbre your 

 readers. T. S. D. 



FOLK LORE. 



Midsummsr Fires. — Fi'oni your notice of Mr. 

 Ha^^lam's account of the Beltein or jMidsumnier 

 fires in Coinwall, I conclude you will give a 



f)Iace to the following note. On St. John's eve 

 ast past, I happened to pass the day at a house 

 situate on an elevated tract in the county of Kil- 

 kenny, Ireland ; and 1 shall long remember the 

 beauty of the sight, when, as dusk closed in, fire 

 after fire shot up its clear flame, thickly studding 

 the near plains and distant hills. The evening 

 was calm and still, and the mingled shouts and 

 yells of the representatives of the old fire-worship.- 

 {)ers came with a very singular effect on the ear. 

 When a boy, I have often passed through the fire 

 myself on Midsummer eve, and such is still the 

 custom. The higher the flame, the more daring 

 the act is considered : hence there is a sort of 

 emulation amongst the unwitting perpetratoi's of 

 this Pagan rite. In many places cattle are driven 

 through the fire ; and this ceremony is firmly be- 

 lieved to have a powerful effect in preserving them 



* This view will no doul)t be contested on the au- 

 thority of Stow, who describes the tonne as a " prison 

 for night-walkers," so called froTn the form in wliich 

 It was built. (Cunningham, p. 141., 2nd ed.) Yet, 

 as Mr. Cunningham elsewhere states (p. xxxix.), 

 "the Tun upon Corn-hill [was] converted into a con- 

 duit" in 1401, it would hardly be called a "prison" a 

 century later. The probability is, tliat the especial 

 buildin-j called the tonne never was a prison at all ; but 

 that the prison, from standing near or adj)ining the 

 tonne, took its name, the tonne prison, in conformity 

 with universal us:ige. It is e(|ually probable that the 

 tonne was originally built for the purpose to which it 

 was ultimately applied ; and that some delay aros;' in 

 its use from the didiculty expc-rienccil in the hydraulic 

 part of the undertaking, which was oidy overcome in 

 1401. The universality of the punishment of" duck- 

 ing'' among t our ancestors is at least a circumstance 

 in favour of the view taken in the text. 



from various harms. I need not say, that amongst 

 the peasantry the fires are now lighted in hfinour 

 of St John. X. Y. A. 



Kilkenny. 



Borroived Thoughts. — Mr. Singer (Vol. i., p. 

 482.) points out the French original from which 

 Goldsmith borrowed his epigram beginning — 

 " Here lies poor Ned Purdon." 



I find, in looking over Swift's works, a more 

 literal version of this than Goldsmith's : — 

 " Well then, poor G— lies under ground, 

 So there's an end of honest Jack ; 

 So little justice here he found, 



'Tis ten to one he'll ne'tr come back." 



I should like to add two Queries: — Who was 

 the Chevallier de Cailly (or d'Aceilly), the author 

 of the French epigram mentioned by INIr. Singer ? 

 And — when did he live ? 



H. C. DE St. Ckoix. 



An Infant Prodigy in 16o9. — The following 

 wonderful story is thus related by Archbishop 

 Bramhall (Carte's Letters, ii. 208. : Dr. Bramhall 

 to Dr. Earles, Utrecht, Sept. 6-16, 1659) : — 



" X child was born in London about three months 

 since, with a double tongue, or divided tongue, which 

 the third day after it was born, cried ' a King, a King,' 

 and bid them bring it to the King. The mother of the 

 child saieth it told her of all that hapnened in England 

 since, and much more which she dare not utter. This 

 my lady of Inchiguln writeth to her aimt, Me hi-nw 

 van Melliswarde *, living in this city, who shewed me 

 the letter. My Lady writeth that she herself was as 

 incredulous as any person, until she both saw and heard 

 it speak herself very lately, as distinctly as she herself 

 could do, and so loud that all the room heard it. That 

 which she heard was this. A gentleman in the com- 

 pany took the child in his arms and gave it money, and 

 asked what it would do with it, to which it answered 

 aloud that it would give it to the King. If my Lady 

 were so foolish to be deceived, or had not been an eye 

 and car witness herself, I might have disputed it ; but 

 giving credit to her, I cannot esteem it less than a mi- 

 racle. If God be pleased to bestow a blessing upon us, 

 he cannot want means." 



It can hardly be doubted that the Archbishop's 

 miracle was a ventriloquist hoax. Oil. 



Allusion in Peter Martyr. — IMr. Prescott, in his 

 History of the Conquest of Mexico, vol. i. p. 389. 

 (ed. 8vo. 1843), quotes from Peter Alartyr, De 

 Orhe Novo, dec. 1. c. 1., the words, "Una iUis fuit 

 spcs saliilis, desperasse de salute," applied to tlni 

 Spanish invaders of i\Ie-\ico ; and he remarks (hat 

 " It is said with the classic energy of Tacitus." The 



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