June 28. 1851.] 



NOTES AXD QUERIES. 



517 



themselves pace eggers, go .about in Passion Week, 

 and especially Good Friday, as mummers in the 

 south of England do at Christmas. Large tallow 

 candles may often be seen decorated with ever- 

 greens, hanging up in the houses of the poor at 

 Christmas time. P. P. 



Od. — One of the experiments by which the ex- 

 istence of this agency is tested, consists in attach- 

 ing a horsehair to the first joint of the forefinger, 

 and suspending to it a smootli gold ring. When 

 tlie elbow is restel on the table, and the finger 

 held in a horizontal position, the ring begins to os- 

 cillate in the plane of the direction of the finger; 

 but if a female takes hold of the left hand of the 

 person thus experimenting, the ring begins forth- 

 witli to oscilliile in a plane at right angles to that 

 of its former direction. I have never tried the 

 experiment, for the simple reason that I have not 

 been able to prevail upon any married lady of my 

 acquaintance to lend me her wedding-ring for the 

 purpose ; and even if I had found it come true, I 

 should still doubt whether the motion were not 

 owing to the pulsations of the finger veins ; but 

 whatever be the cause, the fact is not new. My 

 father recently told me, that in his boyhood he had 

 often seen it tried as a charm. For this purpose 

 it is essential, as may be supposed, that the ring be 

 a wedding-ring, and of course the lady towards 

 whom it oscillates is set down as the future spouse 

 of the gentleman experimenting. R. D. H. 



Pigeons. — The popular belief, that a person 

 cannot die with his head resting on a pillow con- 

 taining pigeons' feathers, is well known ; but the 

 following will probably be as new to many of your 

 readers as it was to myself. On applying the other 

 day to a highly respectable farmer's wife to know 

 if she had any pigeons ready to eat, as a sick 

 person had expressed a longing for one, she said, 

 " Ah ! poor fellow ! is he so far gone ? A pigeon 

 is generally almost the last thing they want ; I 

 have supplied many a one for the like purpose." 



J. Eastwood. 



Minar jJotcS. 



Lord Nelsons Dress and Sword at Trafalgar. — 

 Perhaps you may think it worth while to preserve 

 a note written by the late llev. Dr. Scott on the 

 498th ]>age of the second volume of Harrison's 

 Life of Lord Nelson, in contradiction of a bom- 

 bastic description therein given of the admiral's 

 dress and appearance at the l)attle of Trafalgar. 



" Tliis is \vron;r, lie wore the same coat he did the 

 day before ; nor was there the smallest alteration in his 

 dress whatsoever from other days. In tliis action he 

 had not his sword with him on deck, which in <ither 

 actions he had always carried. — A. J. Scutt." 



Dr. Scott was the chaplain and friend in whose 

 arms Lord Nelson died. 



When the late Sir N. Harris Nicolas was en- 

 gaged in a controversy in The Times, respecting 

 the sale of Lord Nelson's sword, I sent him a copy 

 of the above note, and told him I had heard Dr. 

 Scott say that " the sword was left hanging in the 

 admiral's cabin." It was not found necessary to 

 make use of this testimony, as the dispute had 

 subsided. Ai,rRED Gattt. 



Crucifix of Mary Queen of Scots. — The crucifix 

 that belonged to this unfortunate queen, and 

 which she is said to have held in her hands on the 

 scaffold, is still preserved with great care by its 

 present owners (a titled family in the neighbour- 

 hood of Winchester), and at whose seat I have 

 frequently seen it. If I mistake not, the figure 

 of our Saviour is of ivory, and the cross of ebony. 



The White Hose. 



Jonah and the Whale. — In No. 76., p. 275., Me. 

 Gallatly calls attention to the popular error in 

 misquoting the e.xpression from Genesis : " In the 

 sweat of thy fac^," &c. There is another popular 

 error which may not be known to some of your 

 correspondents : it is generally supposed that 

 Jonah is recorded in the book bearing his name 

 as having been swallowed by a whale, — this is 

 quite an error. The expression is "a great fish," 

 and no such word as whale occurs in the entire 

 " Book of Jonah." E. J. K. 



Anachronisms of Painters. — I sei..] you a further 

 addition to the "Anachronisms of Painters," men- 

 tioned in Vol. iii., p. 369., and, like them, not in 

 D'Israeli's list. 



My father (R. Robinson, of the Heath House, 

 A\''ombourne) has in his collection a picture by 

 Steenwyk, of the " Woman taken in Adultery," in 

 which our Lord is made to write in Dutch I The 

 scene also takes place in a church of the architec- 

 ture of the thirteenth century ! G. T. R. 



Wonibourne, near Wolverhampton. 



Rifles. — " We make the best rifles, and you 

 follow us," said the exhibitor of Colt's revolvers, 

 in my hearing, with a most satisfied assurance, 

 in a way " particularly communicative and easy," 

 as The Times of the 9th of .June says of 

 his general manner. I am always desirous of in- 

 formation, but desire the highest authority and 

 evidence before I believe. I would therefore ask 

 the opinion of all experienced sportsmen, such as 

 Mr. Gi rdon Gumming, or of travelled officers of 

 our Rifle Brigade. I nvay say, that if the above 

 unqualified remark came from the mouth of an 

 English maker, I should be equnlly incredulous. 

 Is there any one use for wliicji an American rifle 

 is to be preferred to an English one ? A. C. 



