Aug. 3. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



151 



" I could send you a long answer to your queries, 

 but have not the confidence to do it ; for all that I can 

 say was only heard from others when I was at school at 

 Eton, and if I shouKl depend upon that, perhaps I 

 should make too bold with truth. 'Twas then com- 

 monly F,aid that the college held some lands by the 

 custom of salting ; but having never since examined it, 

 I know not how to account for it. One would think, 

 at first view, considering the foundation was designed 

 for a nursery of the Cliristian religion, and has not been 

 in being much above 250 yeais, that it is not likely any 

 remains of tlie Gentiles, relating to their sacrifices, 

 should in so public a manner be suffered in it ; how- 

 ever, I cannot but own with those that understand any- 

 thing of antiquity, that the Christians very early 

 assumed some rites of the licathens ; and probably it 

 might be done with this design, — that the nations, 

 seeing a religion which in its outward shape was some- 

 thing like their own, might be the suoner pursuaded 

 to embrace it. To be free, sir, with you, I am apt to 

 believe, for the honour of that society of iwhich I was 

 once an unworthy member, that the annual custom of 

 salting alludes to that saying of our Saviour to His 

 disciples, 'Je are the salt of the earth;' for <is salt draws 

 up all that matter that tends to putrefaction, so it is 

 a symbol of our doing the like in a spiritual state, by 

 taking away all natural corruption. ... If this will 

 not please, why may it not denote that wit and know- 

 ledge by which boys dedicated to learning ought to 

 distinguish themselves. You know what sal sometimes 

 signifies among the best Roman authors: Pablius 

 Scipio omnes sale facetiisque supcrabat, Cic. ; and 

 Terent., Qui habet salem qui in te est." 



The Editor has a note on this letter : — 

 " There have been various conjectures relative to 

 the origin of this custom. Some have supposed that it 

 arose from an ancient practice among the friars of sell- 

 ing consecrated salt; and others, wiih more probability, 

 from the ceremony of the bairn or io;/-bishop, as it is 

 said to have been formerly a part of the i\lontem-eele- 

 bration for prayers to be read by a boy dressed in the 

 clerical habit." 



A letter from Dr. Tanner to Mr. Ilearne on 

 Banie or Boy-bishops, is in vol. i. p. 302. 



2. The Turhish Spy (Vol. i., p. 324. ; vol. ii., 

 p. 12.). — The letter on the authorship of this work 

 quoted by Dr. Rimbaui/f from the Bodleian MSS., 

 is printed in vol. i. ]>. 233. ; and I observe that 

 Dr. 11. has ineorporated in iiis comniuiiicatioii the 

 Editor's note on the passage. 



3. Dr. Dee (Vol. i., pp, 216. 284.). — A letter 

 about \>r. Dee from Mr. Ballard to T. Hearne 

 oecuis in vol. ii. p. 89. It does not throw lii;ht 

 on the ([uestion why Dr. Dee lelt IManehesler 

 College ? There are also notes for a lil'e of Dee 

 among Aubrey's Liocs, appended to these Letters 

 (vol. ii. p. 310.) iJolh letters and notes refer to 

 original sources of information for Dee's Life. 



ClI. 



iHiuor §.atti> 



Alarm. — A man is indicted for striking at the 

 Queen, with intent (among other things) to alarm 

 her Majesty. It turns out that the very judge has 

 forgotten the legal (which is also the military) 

 meaning of the word. An alarm is originally the 

 signal to arm : Query, Is it not formed from the 

 cry dVurme, which in modern times is aux amies f 

 The iudse said that from the courage of her 

 family, most likely the Queen was not alarmed, 

 meaning, not frightened. But the illegal intent 

 to alarm merely means the intent to make another 

 think that it is necessary to take measures of de- 

 fence or protection. When an alarm is sounded, 

 the soldier who is not alarmed is the one who 

 would be held to be frightened. M. 



Taking a Wife on Trial. — The following note 

 ■was made upon reading The Historical and Genea- 

 logical Account of the Clan of Maclean, by a Se- 

 neachie, published by Smith, Elder, and Co., 

 London, 1838. It may be thought worthy of a 

 corner amongst the Notes on Folk Lore, which 

 fornt so curious and entertaining a portion of the 

 "JSToTES AND Queries." 



In the beginning of the year 1608 a commission, 

 consisting of the Archbishop of Glasgow, the 

 Bishop of the Isles (Andrew Knox), Andrew 

 Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, and Sir James Hay of 

 Kingask, proceeded to the Isles with power to 

 summon the chiefs to a conference, for the purpose 

 of intimating to them the measures in contem- 

 plation by the government. A meeting for this 

 purpose was held at Aross Castle, one of the 

 seats of Maclean, in Mull, at which the principal 

 barons and heads of houses attended. 



The regulations contemplated had for their 

 object the introduction of an additional ntimber 

 of pious divines, who were to be provided for out 

 of the lands of the great island proprietors ; the 

 abolishinn- a certain remarkable custom which till 

 then prevailed, namely, that of taking a wife on 

 approbation, or, in plain intelligible terms, on trial! 



The following are two examples recorded of 

 this singular custom. 



John j\Iac-Vic Ewen, fourth laird of Ardgour, 

 had handfasted (as it was called) with a daughter 

 of Mac Ian of Ardnamurchan, whom he had taken 

 on a promise of marriage, if she pleased him. At 

 the expiration of two years he sent her home to 

 her lather ; but his son by her, the gallant John 

 of Invorscaddel, a son of iMaclean of Ardgour, 

 celebrated in the history of the Isles, was held 

 to be an illegiiimate oUsin-lng by virtue of the 

 "handfast ceremony." 



Another instance is recorded of a Macneil of 

 Borra having for several years enjoyed the society 

 of a lady of the name of Maclean on the same 

 principle ; but his olFspring by her were deprived 



