* ments. 
and §, No 10., Man, 8. °56.] 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Tor 
vegetable poisons so difficult to detect by analysis 
in post-mortem examinations too long postponed. 
Besides any information on the action of this 
vegetable poison, rendered so painfully interesting 
by the recent case at Dingwall, I would feel 
obliged for an account of its use by the Nepalese, 
or at least a reference to some easily-procured 
‘book where it may be found. I would also ask, 
if any person has experienced effects similar to 
those described by Baptist Van Helmont, as hay- 
ing resulted from his merely tasting the napellus. 
-— Opera Omnia. Francofurt: 1682, p. 264. c. xii. 
E.G. R. 
The Christmas Tree. —Is not the Christmas 
tree, recently introduced from Germany, a relic 
of the old Christmas pageants? Hall the historian 
(Chronicle, reprint, p. 517.) evidently alludes to 
something of the kind in the following passage: 
“ Agaynste the xii daye, or the day of the Epiphanie, 
at nighte, before the banket in the Hall at Richemond, 
was a pageunt devised like a mountayne glisteringe by 
night, as though it had bene all of golde, and set with 
stones; on the top of which mountayne was a tree of golde, 
the braunches and bowes frysed with golde, spredynge on 
every side over the mountayne with roses and pomegarnettes. 
The which mountain was with vices [screws] brought up 
towards the Kynge, and out of the same came a ladye 
‘apparelled in cloth of golde, and the chyldren of honour, 
called the henchemen, whiche were freshly disguised, and 
danced a morice before the Kyng, and that done, re- 
entred the mountaine; and then it was drawnen backe, 
the wassail or bankit brought in, and so brake up Christ- 
mas.” 
The late Mr. A. J. Kempe in a note to The 
Loseley Manuscripts (p. 75.), says : 
““We remember a German of the household of the late 
Queen Caroline, making what he termed a Christmas tree 
for a juvenile party at that festive season. The tree was 
a branch of some evergreen fastened on a board. The 
boughs bent under the weight of gilt oranges, almonds, 
&c., and under it was a neat model of a farmhouse, sur- 
rounded by figures of animals, &c., and all due accompani-- 
The forming Christmas trees is, we believe, a 
common custom in Germany, evidently a remain of the 
pageants constructed at that season in ancient days.” 
_ The Christmas tree does not appear to be men- 
tioned in the last edition of Brand's Popular An- 
tiquities, Epwarp F, Rimeavtr. 
. 
Queries. 
M. H, SPANG, A SCULPTOR OF THE MIDDLE OF THE 
LAST CENTURY. 
_Any information and all particulars of this man 
will be acceptable to those who cherish the early 
records of native art. I find M. Spang an ex- 
hibitor at the Society of the Artists of Great 
Britain in 1760, and in the two following years 
side by side with the mighty Roubiliac, whose 
death in 1762 left the aforesaid Spang for one 
year in the field with Carlnii, Pingo, Wilton, and | 
Tyler, to be followed by Rysbraeck in 1763, who 
had not “ shown” in the two preceding years. 
As Spang’s name does not reappear on the roll 
of the Royal Academy in 1769, we must conclude 
he may have “slept with his fathers” in the in- 
tervening six years. Permit me to ask if other 
traces in his career can be pointed out. Was he 
as well as Roubiliac a pupil of Cheere, and what 
were their relative ages? We know that Roubi- 
liac died 11th Jan. 1762, and it would seem that 
Spang’s light burnt out in the Exhibition of the 
succeeding year. 
From the authority of the catalogue before me 
it appears that even in this infant state of Schools 
in 1760 — 
Carinii had — 
“A Design for the Monument of General Wolfe.” 
M. Spang exhibited — 
1. “Cupid riding on a Dolphin, in marble.” 
2. “ A Model of ineas and Anchises, bronzed.” 
Roubiliac. — 
1. “A Marble Busto.” 
2. “Two Models representing Painting and Sculpture, 
on a pediment.” 
3. “A Model of Shakspeare.” 
Tyler. — 
“Design for General Wolfe’s Monument.” 
What an interest in the fate of the hero of 
Quebec! 
1761. Spang. — 
1. “Model in Wax of his present Majesty.” 
2. “ An Anatomical Figure.” 
3. “ Design for a Medallion of The Taking of Canada.” 
M. Roubiliac. — 
1. «A Bust.” 
2. “A Bust of Mr. Wilton.” 
| Mr. Wilton. — 
1, “A Bust of Roubiliac.” 
| Interesting interchange of homage ! 
2. “ Bust in marble of Oliver Cromwell.” 
1762. M. Spang.— 
1. “A Model of a Sleeping Boy (bas-relief).” 
2. “A Child’s Head.” 
Mr. Wilton. — 
“ A Marble Bust.” 
1763. M. Rysbraeck had his famous — 
“ Model of Hercules” — 
And so on, Carlnii, Rysbraeck, and Wilton, with 
no more of Roubiliac or Spang. 
Out of your many readers there will be, I hope, 
one who can enlighten and enliven your constant 
reader CuIsEL. 
