NOTES AND QUERIES: 



A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION 



FOB 



LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



« 'W'hen found, make a note of." — Captain Cuttle. 



Vol. IV. —No. 104.] Saturday, October 25. 1851. 



5 Price Sixpence. 

 I'. 



Stamped Edition, 7'^- 



Notes ; — 



CONTENTS. 



Page 



305 

 31)6 

 307 

 307 



Tlie Old Countess of Desmond, No. I. 

 Pansliivic Slvetches, by Dr. J. LotsUy 

 Monumental liust of Sliakspeare, by J. O. Hallivvell 

 Notes on Pa-saaes in Virgil, by Dr. Henry 

 Folk Lore : — Superstitions respecting JJees — Bees in- 

 vited to Funerals — North Side of Cliurcliyards — 

 Ashton Faggot ; a Devonshire Custom — Offerings 

 to the Apple-trees; Devonshire Superstition - - 308 



Poetical Imitations -----.. 310 

 Gloucestershire Ballads:— .\ Gloucester Ditty ; George 



Kidler's Oven - - . - - - 31 1 



The Caxton Coffer, by Bolton Corney . - - 312 



Minor Notes : — Note on I lie Dura: ion of Reigns — Cock 

 and Buil Story ^" Miilta renascentur," &c. — Corrup- 

 tions recognised as acknowledged \\'ords - - 312 



Queries : — 



Mary Queen of Scots and Bothwell's Confession - 313 



Slinor Queries; — " *ris Twopence now" — Scythians 

 blind then- Slaves — The " Gododin " — Frontispiece 

 to llobbes's Leviatlian — Broad Arrow i>r Arrow Head 



— Deep Well near Baiistcd Downs — Upton Court — 

 Derivation of Prog — Metric. d History of England — 

 Finger Pillories in Cimrchcs _ Stallenge Queries — 

 Ancient MS. History of Scotland — Pliaretram de 

 Tute.-bit — InuiKiation at Deptlord — Butler's .Sermons 



— Coleridge's Christabel — Epigram ascribed to 

 Mary Queen of Scots - - - - - 314 



Minor Qi'EniifS Answered: — Meaning of Farlieu — 

 '■ History of A.nglesey " — The Word '• Piile " - 31 7 



Replies : — 



Winchester Execution , , . - - 317 



Cockney - - - .. - - .3l>i 



Sir Edmund Plowden or Ployden . - .. - 319 



General James Wolfe _ . . - . 322 



Stanzas in Childe H.irold ----- 323 

 Ueplies to Minor Queries: — MS. Note in a Copy of 

 Liber Senientiaruin — Natuialis Proles — Print clean- 

 ing — Stiiry referred to by Jeremy Taylor — Anagrams 



— Battle of Brunanburgh — Praed's Works — Sir J. 

 Davies — Coins of Con>tantius GalUis — Passage iu 

 Scdiey— Buxtorfs Translation of Elias Levita's "Tub 

 Taam " — Stonebeoge — (ilass in Windows lormerly 

 not a Fixture— Fortune, infortune, fort mie — Matthew 

 )'aris's "Histuria Minor" — Sanford's " Descensus" — 

 Death of Pitt — History of Hawick — " Prophecies of 

 Nostradamus" — Bourchier Family — William 111. 

 at Exeter — Passage iu George Herbert — Sui- 

 cides buried in Cro-s Koads — Arnioiial Bearing — 

 *' Life of Crojnwell" — llarrir., Paniter in Water 

 Colours — "Son of the Morning" — Grimsdyke or 

 Griniesditeh — Cagots — The Serpent represented with 

 a liumaii Head— Fire Inkonwri — Plant in Texas — 

 Copying lusitiptions — Chantrey's Statue of Mrs. Jor- 

 dan—portraits of Uurkc — Martial's Diatrihutiou of 

 llouif -..,.,., 3'^e 



MlSCKLI.ANF.nUft :._ 



Note« on Books S.ales, Catalogues, &c. 

 Uooks and Odd Volumes wanted - 

 Notici « to Correspondents 

 Advertitemeiits , . . 



- 332 



- 333 



- 333 

 ■ 333 



THE OLD COUNTESS 01' DESMOND, NO. 1. 



The various notices and inquiriesat times in 

 your publication respecting this laily, including, as 

 tliey do, some sce[)tical doubts of her existence, 

 induce me to trouble you 'svith several particulars 

 upon this subject, of -iviiich I have at sundry times, 

 according to the admirable sugij^estion of your 

 motto, "when found, made a note." Some of them, 

 derived from local antiquarian opportunities, will 

 be new ; of all I shall endeavour to make an 

 intelligible arrangement ; and as the subject will 

 probably extend itself too much for a single article 

 suited to your pages, I propose to place it under 

 these distinct headings: —Was there an old 

 Countess of Desmond ?' Is there realit/ a portrait 

 of her? And, Who was she ? 



In reference to the first inquiry, I would observe 

 that the fact of the existence of such a personage 

 rests upon no modern or uncertain tradition. This 

 a"-ed lady, according to an account I shall mention 

 presently, is suppos^ed to have lived to the latter 

 end of the reign of James I. or beginning of that 

 of Charles I. ; and mention is made of her by Sir 

 Walter Raleigh, in his History of the IForW (bk. i. 

 p. i. c. 5.), as "personally known to him " as 

 havin" been married in the reign of Edward IV. 

 (who died a.d. 1485) ; and who was living in 1589, 

 and "many years afterwards, as all the noblemen 

 and gentlemen of Monster can witness." 



Lord Bacon, in his Natural History (cent. viu. 

 sect. 755.) refers to her thus : 



" Tliev tell a tale of the old Countess of Desmond, 

 wlio lived until she was seven score years old; that she 

 did dentize twice or thrice, casting her old teeth, and 

 others coming in their place." 



Horace Walpole, in his Historic Doubts respect- 

 ing Richard III. (p. 10-2.), correcting the "mis- 

 representations regarding his person," says : 



" 'I'he old Countess of Dosniond, wlio had danced 

 with Richard, declared Ise was the liandsomest man in 

 the room except his brother Kdward, and was very 

 well made." 



This last anecdote of Walpole's is taken from 

 an account which I certainly htive seen and read, 

 but the name of the authority I cannot now recol- 



