Sept. 14. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



243 



phich Oracle, 1720, 8vo.; The British Apollo, 1740, 

 12ino. ; with several others of less note. Tlie three 

 last quoted answer many singular questions in 

 theoloir)', law, medicine, physics, natural history, 

 popular superstitions, &e., not always very satis- 

 factorily or very intelligently, but still, often 

 amusingly and ingeniously. The British Apollo : 

 containitig two thousand Answers to atrious Ques- 

 tions in most Arts and Sciences, serious, comical, 

 and humourous, the fourth edition of which I have 

 now before ine, indulges in answering such ques- 

 tions as these : " How old was Ad:im when Eve 

 was created ? — Is it lawful to eat black pudding? 

 — Whether the moon in Ireland is like the moon 

 in England ? AVhere is hell situated ? Do cocks 

 lay eggs ?" &c. In answer to the question, " Why 

 is gaping catching?" the Querists of 1740 are 

 gravely told, — 



" Gaping or yawning is infectious, because the 

 steams of the blood huiii;^ ejected out of the mouth, 

 doth infect the ambient air, which being received by 

 the nostrils into another man's mouth, doth irritate the 

 fibres of the hypogastric muscle to open the mouth to 

 discharge by expiration the unfortunate gust of air 

 infected with the steams of blood, as aforesaid." 



The feminine gender, we ai"e ftirther told, is 

 attributed to a ship, " because a ship carries bur- 

 dens, and therefore resembles a pregnant woman." 



But as the faith of 1850 in The British Apollo, 

 with its two thousand answers, may not be equal 

 to the faith of 1740, what dependence are we to 

 place in the origin it attributes to two very com- 

 mon words, a bull, and a dun ? — 



" Why, wlien people speak improperly, is it termed 

 a bull? — It became a proverb from the repeated blun- 

 ders of one Obadiah Bull, a lawyer of London, who 

 lived in the reign of King Henry VII." 



Now for the second, — 



" Pray tell me whence you can derive the original 

 of tlie word dun ? — Some falsely think it comes from 

 the French, where doniiez signifies give me, implying a 

 demand of sometliing due ; but the true original of 

 this expression ones its biitl) to one Joe Dun, a famous 

 baihffof the town of Lincoln, so extremely active, and 

 so dexterous at the management of his rough business, 

 that it became a proverb, when a man refused to pay 

 his debts, • Why don't you Dun him?' that is, why 

 don't you send Dun to arrest him ? Hence it grew 

 a custom, and is now as old as since the davs of 

 Henry VII." 



Were these twin worthies, Obadiah Bull the 

 lawyer, and Joe Dun tixe bailiff, men of straw for 

 the nonce, or veritable (iesh and bhxjd ? They 

 botii flourished, it ajjpears, in the reign of Ilenry 

 VII.; anil to me it is douijtful whether one reign 

 could have producc<l two worthies capable of 

 cutting so deep a notch in tiie English tongue. 



"To dine wilii Duke Humphrey," we are told, 

 arose from the practice of those who had shared 



his dainties when alive being in the habit of per- 

 ambulating St. Paul's, where he was buried, at the 

 dining time of day ; what dinner they then had, 

 they had with Duke Humphrey the defunct. 



Your contributor Ma. Cunningham will be able 

 ta decide as to the value of the origin of Tyburn 

 here given to us : 



" As to the antiquity of Tyburii, it is no older than 

 the year 1 529 ; before that time, the place of execution 

 was in Rotten Row in Old Street. As for the etymo- 

 logy of the %vor(l Tyburn, some will have it proceed 

 from the words ti/e and burn, alluding to the manner of 

 executing traitors at that place ; others believe it took 

 its name from a small river or brook once running near 

 it, and called by the Romans Tyburnia. \Vhetlier the 

 I first or second is the truest, the querist may judge as 

 he thinks fit." 



And so say I. 



A readable volume might be compiled from 

 these "Notes and Queries," which amused our 

 grandfathers ; and the works I have indicated will 

 afford much curious matter in etymology, folk- 

 lore, topography, &c., to the modern antiquarv. 



CORKSCKEW. 



JAMES THE SECOND, HIS REMAINS. 



The following curious account was given to me 

 by Mr. Fitz-Simons, an Iri.sh gentleman, upwards 

 of eighty years of age, with whom I became 

 acquainted when resident with my family at 

 Toulouse, in September, 1840; he having resided 

 in thai city for many years as a teacher of the 

 French and English languages, and had attended 

 the late Sir V.'illiam FoUett in the former capacity 

 there in 1817. He said, — 



" I was a prisoner in Pari.s, in the convent of the 

 English Benedictines in the Rue St. Jaques, during 

 part of the revolution. In the year 1793 or 1794, the 

 body of King James II. of England was in one of the 

 chapels there, where it had been deposited some time, 

 under the expectation that it would one day be sent to 

 England for interment in Westminster Abbey. It had 

 never been buiied. The body was in a wooden coffin, 

 inclosed in a leaden one ; and that again inclosed in a 

 second wooden one, covered with black velvet. That 

 while I was so a prisoner, the sans-culottes broke open 

 the coffins to get at the lead to cast into bullets. The 

 body lay exposed nearly a whole day. It «-as swad- 

 dled like a mummy, bound tight with garters. The 

 sans-culottes took out the body, which had been em- 

 balmed. There was a strong smell of vinegar and 

 camplior. The corpse was beautiful and perfect. The 

 hands and nails were very fine, 1 moved and bent every 

 finger. I never saw so fine a set of teeth in my life. 

 A young lady, a fellow prisoner, wished much to have 

 a tooth ; 1 tried to get one out for her, but could not, 

 tliey were so (irmly fixed. The feet also were very 

 beautiful. The face and cheeks were just as if he were 

 alive. I rolled his eyes : the eye-balls were perfectly 

 firm imder my finger. Tlie French and English pri- 



