Mar. 15. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



207 



their names have been forgotten, but his name was 

 Harrison, and lie was a member of an old York- 

 shire family, and late in life settled in Bedford- 

 shire. 



Richard died in 1484, and thus five persons have 

 sufficed to chronicle an incident which occurred 

 nearly 370 years since. 



]\Ir. Harrison further stated that there was 

 nothing remarkable about Richard, that he was 

 not the liunc'hback " lump of foul deformity" so 

 genei-ally believed until of late years. 



The foregoing anecdote may be of interest as 

 showing that traditions may come down from re- 

 mote periods by few links, and thus be but little 

 differing from the actual occurrences. 



^ H. J. B. 



66. Hamilton Terrace, 

 St. John's Wood, Mareli 5. 1851. 



Oliver Cromwell. — Echard says that his highness 

 sold himself to the devil, and that he had seen 

 the solemn compact. Anthony a Wood, who doubt- 

 less credited this account of a furious brother loy- 

 alist, in his Journal says : 



" Aug. 30. 1658. Monday, a terrible raging wind 

 happened, which did miicli damage. Dennis Bond, a 

 great Oiiverian and anti-monarchist, died on that day, 

 and then the devil took hotid for Oliver's appearance." 



Clarendon, assigning the Protector to eternal 

 perdition, not liking to lose tlie portent, boldly 

 says the remarkable hurricane occurred on Sep- 

 tember 3, the day of Oliver's death. Oliver's ad- 

 mirers, on the other hand, represent this wind as 

 ushering him into the other world, but for a vei-y 

 different reason. 



Heath, in his Flagellum (I have the 4th edit.), 

 says : 



" It pleased God to usher in his end with a great 

 whale some three months before, June 2, that came up 

 as far as Greenwich, and there was killed ; and more 

 immediately by a terrible storm of wind ; the prognos- 

 ticks that the great Levialhan of men, that tempest 

 and overthrow of government, was now going to his 

 own place I" 



I have several works concerning Cromwell, but 

 in no other do I find this story very like a whale. 

 Would some reader of bettor (opportunities favour 

 us vvlth a record of these two matters of natural 

 history, not as connected with the death of this re- 

 markable man, but as mere events ? Your well- 

 read readers will remember some similar tales re- 

 lative to the death of Cardinal ]\Iazarine. These 

 exuberances of vulgar minds m;iy partly be at- 

 tributed to the credulity of the age, but more 

 probaljly to the same want of philosophy which 

 caused the ancients to deal in exaggeration. 



B. B. 



Siuiil-eating. — The practice of eating, if not 

 of talking to, snails, seems not to be so unknown 

 this country as some of your readers might in 



imagine. I was just now interrogating a village 

 child in reference to the addresses to snails quoted 

 under the head of ''Folk Loke," Vol. iii., pp. 132. 

 and 179., when she acquainted me with the not 

 very appetising fact, that she and her brothers 

 and sisters had been in the constant habit of in- 

 dulging this horrible Limacolruphy . 



" We hooks tliem out of the wall (she says) with a 

 stick, in winter time, and not in summer time (so it 

 seems they have tlieir seasons) ; and we roasts them, 

 and, when they've done sj)itiing, they be a-done ; and 

 we takes them out with a fork, and eats them. Some- 

 times we has a jug heai)cd up, pretty near ray pina- 

 fore-full. I loves them dearly." 

 Surely this little bit of practical cottage economy 

 is worth recording. C. AV. B. 



cattnu^. 



BIDDINGS IN WAXES. 



There is a nursery song beginning — 

 " Harry Parry, when w^ill you marry? 

 When apples and pears are ripe. 

 I'll eome to your wedding, witliout any bidding, 

 And," &c. &c. itc. 



Does this mean that I will come without an 

 invitation, or without a marriage-present r" It will 

 be observed that Parry is a Welsh name, and that 

 bidding is a Welsh custom, as is shown by Mr. 

 Spureeli. (Vol. iii., p. 114.). He has anticipated 

 my intention of sending you a bidding-form, which 

 has been lying upon my table for some weeks, but 

 which I have not had time to transcribe ; I now 

 send it you, because it somewhat varies from Mb. 

 Spuerell's, and yet so much resembles it as to show 

 that the same formula is preserved. Both show 

 that, the presents are considered as debts, trans- i 

 ferable or assignable to other parties. Is this the 

 case in all districts of Wales where the custom of 

 bidding prevails ? I think I have heard that in 

 some places the gift is to be returned only when 

 the actual donor " enters into the matrimonial 

 state." It will be observed, too, in these forms, 

 relations only transfer to relations. Is it considered 

 that they may assign to persons not relations ? 

 Some of your Welsh correspondents may reply to 

 these questions,, which may elucidate all the va- 

 rieties of practice in a custom which contributes 

 much to the comfort of a young couple, and, in 

 many instances, is an incentive to prudence, be- 

 cause they are aware that the debt is a debt of 

 honour, not to be evaded without some loss of 

 character. 



" December 26. 180C. 



" As we intend to enter the IMatrimonial State on 

 Tuesday the 20th of Jionuiri/,. 1807, we ])urposc to 

 make a Bidding on the occasion the same day for the 

 young man at bis father's bouse, in the village of Llan- 

 eaint, in the parish of St. hhmad ; and for the young 



