Aug. 23. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



141 



Shirley ; it may be interesting as explaining some 

 part of tlie verse in the game of " Thread the 

 Needle:" 



" Lord Nugent, when at Hebron, was directed to go 

 out by the needle's eye, that is, by the small gate of the 

 city ; and in many parts of England, the old game of 

 thread the needle is played to the following words : 

 ' How many miles to Hebron ? 

 Three score and ten. 

 Shall I be there by midnight ? 

 Yes, and back again. 



Then thread the nee'dle,' &c. 

 " Now this explains and modifies one of the strongest 

 and most startling passages of Scripture, on the sub- 

 ject of riches; for the camel can go through the 

 needle's eye, but with difficulty, and hardly with a full 

 load, nor without stooping." 



The above was copied out from the magazine 

 on account of its explaining the camel and the 

 needle's eye : it does not tell much upon the 

 Query concerning the game of " Thread the 

 Needle ; " but it may be interesting, and so is sent 

 with pleasure by E. F. 



P. S. A friend suggests, could the game have 

 come from the Crusades ? 



A line of players, the longer the better, hold 

 Lands and one end of the line, which thus becomes 

 almost a circle, runs and drags tlie rest of the line 

 after it throuu;h tlie arch made by the uplifted 

 arms of the first couple of the other end of the 

 line — a process nearly enough resembling thread- 

 ing a needle. There are subsequent evolutions by 

 which each couple becomes in succession the eye 

 of the needle. C. 



Salmon Fishery in the Thames (Vol. iv., p. 87.). 

 — Those of your readers who know that I am con- 

 nected with Billingsgate market would look to me 

 for the reply to R. J. R.'s Query. I must therefore 

 inform them that only thirty or forty years back 

 salmon were taken in rather large quantities in 

 the Thames ; but since the introduction of steam- 

 boats and the increase of traffic, the fish have 

 gradually, I might say suddenly, disappeared, for 

 during the last twenty years very few salmon in- 

 deed have been taken : those that found their 

 way to market have realised high prices; not that 

 Thames salmon was ever esteemed for its flavour, 

 but only for its extreme rarity of late years. 



The hindrance to salmon taking the Thames is 

 the steam-boat and other tradie, which, agitating 

 the water, frightens them (they being a very 

 timid fisli), and stirs up tlie mud, which chokes 

 them; for there is no doubt tliat ever after a salmon 

 enters a river, it lives by suction. It is possible that 

 one or two salmon a season even make up our 

 river now, for becoming friglitened, anil rushing 

 on having back and head nearly out of water, and 

 the tide with them, tliey would get a long way in 

 a night, and possibly reach clear water above 



bridge with life, but in a very weak state. I be- 

 lieve that, under the most fiivourable circumstances, 

 salmon would not again frequent the Thames in 

 any large quantites, it being too southern ; and 

 there is no doubt but that the fish have been fast 

 decreasing of late years, for some of the best 

 rivers in the north are now without salmon. 



Bl.OWEN. 



Billingsgate. 



Entomological Query (Vol. iv., p. 101.). — The 

 insect which J. E. found on the Linaria minor is 

 probably either the Eupliitecia Linariatu or E. 

 Pulchellata. The former species is known to 

 feed on Toad flax, and there is little doubt that 

 the latter does also. If J. E. found any of the 

 caterpillars he may identify them by referring to 

 Westwood's British Moths, vol. ii. p. 59., where 

 the caterpillar of Euphitec.ia Linai-iata is engraved 

 and described as " yellow or greenish, with dark 

 chesnut spots on the back and sides." B. P. D. E. 



School of the Heart (Vol. iii., p. 390.). — The 

 editor of the Christian Puet referred to in a para- 

 graph signed S. T. D. has not the School of the 

 Heart by Quai'les at hand, and cannot now 

 examine whether the two small pieces quoted in 

 the former volume under the name of Thomas 

 Harvey from Scuola. Cordis in forty-seven em- 

 blems, 1647, belong to one or the other writer. 

 The only authority, from which he recollects to 

 have gathered tliem, he believes to be Sir Egerton 

 Brydges' Censura Literaria, or his Restituta, which 

 are very voluminous and miscellaneous, and are at 

 present beyonil his research. From internal evi- 

 dence, he thinks the two poems are not by Quarles, 

 thouorh not unworthy of him in his best vein. 



J.M. G. 



Hallamshire. 



P. S. Since the foregoing note was written, I 

 have found the copy of Sir E. Brydges' Restituta, 

 from which I copied the extract of Schola Cordis, 

 in the Christian Poet. 



" Schola Cordis : or the Heart of itself gone away 

 from God, brought back again to Him, and instructed 

 by Him. In 47 Emblems. 1647. 12mo. pp. 196." 



Inscribed, without a signature, 

 " To the Divine Majestic of the onely-begotten, 

 eternal], well-beloved Son of God and Saviour of the 

 World, Christ Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of 

 Lords ; the INlaker, the Mender, tlie Searcher, and the 

 Teacher of 



The Heart : 



the Meanest of his most unworthy Servants 



offers up this poore Account of his Thoughts, 



humbly begging pardon for all that is 



amisse in them, and a gracious 



acceptance of these weak endeavours 



for the Advancement of his 



Honour in the Good of others." 



The third edition, dated 1675, ascribes these 



