126 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 38. 



ganaticam," was akin to the Gothic maiirgjan, sig- 

 nifying, " to procrastinate," " to bring to an end," 

 "to shorten," " to limit." This application of the 

 word would naturally rise out of the restrictions 

 imposed upon the wife and children of a morgana- 

 tic marriage. C. H. 



Umbrellas (Vol. i., p. 415. 436.; ii. 25.). — In 



Swift's description of a city shower (Tatler, No. 



238., October 17. 1710), umbrellas are mentioned 



as in common use by women : — 



" Now ill contiguous drops the flood comes down, 

 Threatening with deluge the devoted town ; 

 To slio))s, in crowds, the daggled females fly, 

 Pretend to clieapen goods, but nothing buy ; 

 The Templar spruce, while every spout's abroach, 

 Stays till 'tis fair, yet seems to call a coach ; 

 The tucked-up sempstress walks with hasty strides, 

 While streams run down her oiled umbrella's sides." 



H. B. C. 



U. U. Club, July 2. 



Bands (Vol. ii., pp. 23. 76.) — Scarf. — I was 

 glad to read Arun's explanation of the origin of 

 the bands now worn by the clergy ; which, how- 

 ever, seems merely to amount to their being an 

 adoption of a Genevan portion of clerical costume. 

 That they are the descendants of the ruff, there 

 can be no doubt, just as wrist-bands have more 

 recently succeeded to ruffles. 



I cannot resist mentioning that an ingenious 

 friend suggested to me, that the broad, stiff, laid- 

 down collar, alluded to in the former part of Arun's 

 communication, possibly gave rise to the modern 

 bands in the following manner : — When the scarf, 

 still in use, was drawn over the shoulders and 

 hung down in front, that part of the broad collar 

 which was left visible, being divided up the middle, 

 presented a shape and appearance exactly like our 

 common bands. Hence, it was imagined, this 

 small separate article of dress might have ori- 

 ginated. 



Is it Butler, Swift, or who, that says, — 



" A Chrysostom to sraoothe his band in " ? 



Whenever this was written, it must have referred 

 to our modern bands. 



Who amongst the clergy are entitled to wear a 

 scarf? Is it the badge of a chaplain only ? or what 

 circumstajices justify its being worn? 



Alfred Gattt. 



July 1. 1850. 



Bands (Vol. ii., p. 76.). — An early example of 

 the collar, approaching to the form of our modern 

 bands, may be seen in the portrait of Cardinal 

 Beatoun, who was assassinated in 1546. The 

 original is in Ilolyrood Palace, and an engraving 

 in Mr. Lodge's Porti-aits. The artist is unknown, 

 but from the age of the face one may infer that it 

 was painted about 1540. C. H. 



Jewish Music (Vol. ii., p. 88.). — See a host of 

 authorities on the subject of Hebrew music and 

 musical instruments in Winer's Reahcurtei'hiicli , 

 vol. ii., pp. 120. seq., 3d edit. There is a good 

 abstract respecting them in Jahn's Hebrew Anti- 

 quities, sect. 92-96. C. H. 



North Sides x)f Churchyards unconsecrated 

 (Vol. ii., p. 55.). — In illustration of, not in answer 

 to, Mr. Sansom's inquiry, I beg to offer the follow- 

 ing statement. During a long series of years an 

 average of about 150 corpses has been annually 

 deposited in Ecclesfield churchyard, which has 

 ren<lered it an extremely crowded cemetery. But, 

 notwithstanding these frequent interments, my late 

 sexton told me that he remembered when there 

 was scarcely one grave to the north of the church, 

 it being popularly considered that only suicides, 

 unbaptized persons, and still-born children ought 

 to be buried there. However, when a vicar died 

 about twenty-seven years ago, unlike his prede- 

 cessors, who had generally been buried in the 

 chancel, he was laid in a tomb on the north side of 

 the churchyard, adjoining the vicarage. From 

 this time forward the situation lost all its evil 

 reputation amongst the richer inhabitants of the 

 parish, who have almost entirely occupied it with 

 family vaults. 



AV^hether the prejudice against the north side of 

 our churchyard arose from an idea that it was un- 

 consecrated, I cannot tell; but I suspect that, from 

 inherited dislike, the poor are still indisposed 

 towards it. When the women of the village have 

 to come to the vicarage after nightfall, they gene- 

 rally manage to bring a companion, and hurry past 

 the gloomy end of the north transept as if they 

 knew 



" that close behind 

 Some frightful fiend did tread." 



I cannot help fancying that the objection is 

 attributable to a notion that evil spirits haunt the 

 spot in which, possibly from very early times, such 

 interments took place as my sexton described. As 

 a suggestion towards a full solution of this popular 

 superstition, I would ask whether persons who for- 

 merly underwent ecclesiastical excommunication 

 were customarily buried on the north side of 

 churchyards ? Ai-rBED Gattt. 



Ecclesfield, June 28. 1850. 



I can only give from recollection a statement of 

 a tradition, that when Jesus Christ died he turned 

 his head towards the south ; and so, ever since, the 

 south side of a church has the pre-eminence. There 

 generally is the bishop's throne, and the south aisle 

 of ancient basilicas was appropi'iated to men. 

 Simple observation shows that the supposed sanc- 

 tity extends to the churchyard, — for there the 

 tombstones lie thickest. 



I find that my source of information for the 



