June 14. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



477 



upon the word ears, which is used for hilts in the 

 plural, according to the universal usage of the 

 poet's time. The ears, applied to a leathern coat, 

 or even a sheath, would be e^uite unmeaning, but 

 there is a well sustained ludicrous image in "pluck 

 your sword out of his pitcher by the ears." 



S. W. Singer. 



Inscription on a Tablet in Limerick Cathedral. — 

 " Memeiiti Mory. 



" Here lieth Littele Samiiell Barinton, that great 

 Under Taker, of Faniious Cittis Clock and Chime 

 Maker; He made his one Time goe Karly and Latter, 

 But now He is returned to God his Creator. 



" The 19 of November Then He Scest, And for His 

 Memory This Here is Pleast, By His Son Ben 1693." 



The correctness of this copy, in every respect, 

 may be relied upon. R. J. K. 



caucn'c^. 



PRTNC ESSES OF WALES. 



Blackstone, in his Cominentai-ies, vol. i. p. 224., 

 says, the heir apparent to the crown is usually 

 made Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester ; upon 

 which Mr. Christian in a note remarks, upon the 

 authority of Hume, that this creation has not 

 been confined to the heir apparent, for both 

 Queen Mary and Queen Elizabetli were created 

 by their father, Henry VIIL, Princesses of Wales, 

 each of them at the time (the latter after the 

 legitimation of Mary) being heir presumptive to 

 the crown. 



Can any of your correspondents inform me 

 upon what authority this statement of Hume 

 rests ? or whether there exists any evidence of 

 such creations having been made ? Do any such 

 creations appear upon the Patent Rolls ? The 

 statement is not supported by any writer of au- 

 thority upon such suljjects, and, as for as your 

 Querist's investigation has proceeded, seems with- 

 out foundation. It is one, however, too important 

 in connexion with royal titles to remain uncontra- 

 dicted, if the fact be not so. G. 



iHinor caucrt'cS. 



Lady Mary Cavendish. — Information is re- 

 quested respecting the ancestry of the Lady Mary 

 Cavendish, who married a Lieutenant Maudesley, 

 or Mosley, of the Guards. She is thought to have 

 been maid of honour to Queen Anne. And a Sir 

 Henry Cavendisli, who was teller of the Exche- 

 quer in Ireland some sixty years ago, w.as of the 

 same family. Cavendo. 



Covey. — When the witches in this country 

 were very numerous, Satan for convenience di- 

 vided them into companies of tiiirteen (one reason 

 why tiiirteen has always been considered an un- 

 lucky number), and called c;ich company a covine. 

 Is that the etymology of the word covey, as ap- 

 plied to birds 'f L. M. M. 11. 



Book ivanted to purchase. — Can any one help 

 me to find a little book on " Speculative Diffi- 

 culties in the Christian Religion ? " I read such 

 a book about four years ago, and have quite for- 

 gotten its title and its author. The last chapter 

 in the book was on the " Origin of Evil." There is 

 a little book called Speculative Difficulties, but that 

 is not the one I mean. L. M. M. R. 



The DeviVs Bit. — In the Barnane Mountains, 

 near Templemore, Ireland, there is a large dent 

 or hollow, visible at the distance of twenty miles, 

 and known by the name of the " Devil's Bit." 



Can any of your readers assist me in discovering 

 the origin of this singvilar name ? There is a 

 foolish tradition that the Devil was obliged, by 

 one of the saints, to make a road for his Reverence 

 across an extensive bog in the neighbourhood, and 

 so taking a piece of the mountain in his mouth, he 

 strode over the bog and deposited a road behind 

 him ! Sing. 



Corpse passing makes a Right of Way. — What 

 is the origin of the supposed custom of land be- 

 coming public property, after a funeral has passed 

 over it ? An instance of this occurred (I am told) 

 a short time since at Battersea. R. W. E. 



Nao, a Ship. — Seeing it twice stated in Mr. 

 G. F. Angas's Australia and Neiv Zealand, that "in 

 the Celtic dialect of the Welsh, Nao (is) a ship," I 

 am desirous to learn in what author of that lan- 

 guage, or in what dictionary or glossary thereof, 

 any such word is to be met with. (See vol. ii., 

 pp. 274. 278.) I doubt, or even disbelieve, the 

 Britons having had any name for a ship, though 

 they had a name for an osier floating basket, co- 

 vered with raw hides. And when they became 

 familiar with the navis longa of the Romans, they 

 and their Gaelic neighbours adopted the adjective, 

 and not the substantive. But the question oi nao 

 is one of fact ; and having got the assertion, I want 

 the authority. A. N. 



William Hone. — I wish to meet with the in- 

 teresting and touching account of the conversion 

 of William Hone, the compiler of the Every Day 

 Book, and should be obliged to any one who 

 would tell me where it is to be found. E. V. 



Hand giving the Blessing. — What is the origin 

 of holding up the two forefingers and thumb, and 

 pressing down the third and little fingers of the 

 risrht hand in "ivinn; " the blessing," as we see in 

 figures of bishops, &c. ? Is it a mystic allusion to 

 the Trinity? A. A. D. 



4. Moray Place, Birkenhead. 



Tinsell, a Meaning of. — I wish to know if this 

 word is still used by the country-people in the 

 midland counties, and on the borders of North 

 Wales, to ({iinoiQ fire-rcood. In a Report dated in 

 1620, fi-om a surveyor to the owner of an estate in 



