Fes. 16. 1850.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
247 
as he pleases without the royal license, I wish to 
know what, then, is the use of the royal license ? 
The Symbolism of the Fir-Cone. ~ What does 
the “ fir-cone” in the Ninevite sculptures mean ? 
Layard does not explain it. Is it there as the 
emblem of fecundity, as the pomegranate of Per- 
sia and Syria? Has it altogether the same cha- 
racter as the latter fruit? Then — was it carried 
into Hindostan vid Cashmir? When? By the 
first wave of population which broke through the 
passes of the Parapamisus ? B. C. 
Kentish Ballad. —When I was a boy, I can | 
remember hearing a song sung in Kent, in praise 
of that county, which I never could find in print, 
and of which I am now glad to recollect the fol- 
lowing stanza : — 
«“ When Harold was invaded, 
And falling lost his crown, 
And Norman William waded 
Through gore to pull him down; 
When counties round, 
With fear profound, 
To help their sad condition, 
And lands to save, 
Base homage gave, 
Bold Kent made no submission.” 
Can any reader furnish the remainder, and state 
who is the author? F. B. 
Curious Monumental Brass. — I have a rubbing 
of a Brass, presenting some peculiarities which 
have hitherto puzzled me, but which probably 
some of your more experienced correspondents 
can clear up. 
The Brass, from which the rubbing is taken 
and which was formerly in the Abbey church of 
t. Albans, but when I saw it was detached and 
lying at the Rectory), is broken off a little below 
the waist; it represents an abbot, or bishop, clad 
in an ornamented chasuble, tunic, stole, and alb, 
with a maniple and pastoral staff. So far all is 
plain; but at the back (i.e. on the surface hidden 
when the Brass lay upon the floor) is engraved 
a dog with a collar and bells, apparently as care- 
fully executed as any other part. Can you tell 
me the meaning of this? I can find no mention 
of the subject either in Boutell or any other 
authority. The fragment is about 18 inches long, 
and the dog about 6, more or less. Rauere. 
Jan. 26. 1850. 
Tichhill, God help me. — Can any one tell why 
a Tickhill man, when asked where he comes from, 
says, “ Tickhill, God help me.” Is it because 
the people at Tickhill are famed for misery, as the 
neighbouring town of Blythe seems to have been 
so called from its jolly citizens ? 
R. F, Jounson. 
Bishop Blaize.—I should be much obliged by 
any reference to information respecting Bishop 
Blaize, the Santo Biagio of Agregentum, and 
patron saint of Ragusa. Butler says little but 
that he was bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, the 
proximity of which place to Colchis appears to me 
suspicious. Wonderful and horrible tales are told 
of him; but I suspect his patronage of wool- 
combers is founded on much more ancient legends. 
His establishment at Agregentum must have been 
previous to Christianity. I have a vague remem- 
brance of some mention of him in Higgins’ 
Anacalypsis, but I have not now access to that 
work. JI wish some learned person would do for 
other countries what Blunt has partly done for 
Italy and Sicily ; that is, show the connection be- 
tween heathen and Christian customs, &c. 
BAC. B: 
Vox et preterea nihil.— Whence come these 
oft-quoted words? Burton, in The Anatomy of 
Melancholy (not having the book by me, I am 
unable to give a reference), quotes them as ad- 
dressed by some one to the nightingale. Words- 
worth addresses the cuckoo similarly, vol. il. 
py ols:—— 
“ O, euckoo! shall I call thee bird, 
Or but a wandering voice ?” 
C.W.G. 
Cromwell Relics. —In Noble’s Memorials of the 
Protectorate House of Cromwell it is stated, in the 
Proofs and Illustrations, Letter N, that, in 1784, 
there were dispersed in St. Ives a great number 
of swords, bearing the initials of the Protector 
upon them; and, further, that a large barn, which 
Oliver built there, was still standing, and went by 
the name of Cromwell’s Barn; and that the farmer 
then renting the farm occupied by the Protector 
circa 1630-36, marked his sheep with the iden- 
tical marking-irons which Oliver used, and which 
had O. C. upon them. 
Can any of your correspondents inform me if 
any of these relics are still in existence, and, if so, 
where ? A.D. M. 
Lines on “ Woman's Will.” — Many of your 
readers will haye heard quoted the following 
stanza, or something like it : — 
« The man’s a fool who strives by force or skill 
To stem the torrent of a woman’s will : 
For if she will, she will you may depend on’t, 
And if she won’t, she won’t, and there’s an end on’t.” 
I have heard these lines confidently attributed to 
Shakspeare, Byron, &c. by persons unable to 
verify the quotation, when challenged so to do. 
I can point out where the first two lines may be 
found, with some variation. In The Adventures 
of Five Hours, 1 comedy translated from the 
Spanish of Calderon, by Samuel Tuke, and 
