420 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2nd §, No 21., May 24, °56. 
See Aikin’s General Biography, vol. viii. Ato. ; 
Gent. Mag., Sept. 1783. S. D. 
Great Bustard (2°78. i. 314.)—In reply to 
R. G. T. I beg to inform him that he will find the 
most authentic and interesting account of the 
bustard in Fraser's Magazine for September, 
1854, and a letter in the same work for October, 
recording the particulars of a great bustard (fe- 
male) being shot on the estate of the Rt. Hon. 
Baron Parke, at Lees Hill, in Kingswater, on the 
8th of March, 1854. Also in Yarrell’s beautiful 
work, The History of British Birds, vol.ii., is an 
exquisite representation of this king of British 
birds, with its history, which may now be con- 
sidered as quite extinct in this country. It may 
not be out of place here to note that our officers 
in the Crimea appear to have enjoyed much sport 
with flocks of these birds in December last, some 
of which were killed weighing fifteen or sixteen 
pounds. J. B. Wuirzorne. 
Paraph (2° §. i. 873.) —Q, will find in a 
number of Zhe Times, which I cannot now refer 
to, but one published previous to the one he 
quotes, an explanation of the word paraph. It 
was, [ remember, in the Paris letter, and stated 
that the rough draft of the peace-treaty had been 
prepared, and that it had been paraphed by the 
plenipotentiaries ; but as the word seemed to be 
new, and not generally understood, a note stated 
that paraphed meant the affixing of the initials of 
the names of the plenipotentiaries to the bottom 
of each sheet. Este. 
Birmingham. 
Rhubarb Champagne (2™ §,. i. 293.) — Those 
who know the advice which a late celebrated phy- 
sician used to give in regard to this beverage, to 
patients who had any tendency to calculus, cannot 
wish it should be made either here or elsewhere. 
2G 
In answer to your correspondent J. B. Netz, I 
beg to say that the experiment has been made in 
this county (Kent), with the greatest success. I 
ean vouch for the excellence of the liquor thus 
produced. I regret that, here, I cannot supply 
the facts of the case as they were familiar to me 
fifteen or twenty years ago; but a reference to 
the Records of the Bath and West of England 
Society of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures, and 
Commerce, if such can now be obtained, will sup- 
ply all the requisite information. So far as my 
recollections extend, about twelve to twenty acres 
of land in the neighbourhood of Bath were planted 
with rhubarb, for the sole purpose of making 
wine, by a gentleman well known as an agricul- 
turist. Having, as an old vice-president of the 
above Society, taken some pains to encourage the 
experiment and recommend the produce, a case 
of one dozen was presented to me; and I can 
safely say no other imitation had any chance with 
this. It was then sold by Fortt, in Milsom Street, 
Bath, at a cheap rate. I may, hereafter, be able 
to supply more particulars on this subject. 
CHER: 
Brighton. 
Here is a recipe for a rhubarb draught of some 
kind which Mr. Js. Bruck Neit may, perhaps, 
like to “try his hand at;” whether it is the 
genuine article which he inquires for, or the 
French or English method of preparing the beve- 
rage, I cannot say: 
“ Get some fine gooseberry rhubarb, string and cut it 
in small pieces, and put it in a tub. To every six pounds 
of rhubarb put one quart of unboiled spring water, and 
well bruise the rhubarb. Let it stand twenty-four hours; 
strain off; and to every six pounds of rhubarb add one 
pound of sugar, dissolved, and one pint of river water. 
Let it stand a day more; remove all scum that rises 
quite clean, and put it into a flannel bag; put the liquor 
into a barrel with the vent-peg not too low; let what- 
ever liquor drains from the flannel bag go into the barrel, 
and let the whole work three days: now coyer the barrel 
close, and let it stand four months before it is bottled.” 
As to the first part of the Query, the pleasure 
of furnishing replies cannot be better left than in 
the hands of “ all honest wine merchants.” I trust 
Mr. Neix will find the number large. 
R. W. Hackwoop. 
St. Apollonia’s Teeth (2° §S. i, 213. 323.) — 
There is “yet another” tooth belonging to St. 
Apollonia’s set (which I suppose was never in 
either of the “hogsheads” mentioned by R. §.), 
preserved in the chapel at Vienna, erected by 
Ferdinand IIL, and dedicated to that saint as 
patroness of the teeth, in consequence of a vow he 
had made when his son Prince Leopold cut his 
teeth. 
The tooth here shown is adored and kissed by 
believers, who imagine the touch of it a cure for 
the tooth-ache; in this particular, at all events, 
confirming R. §.’s account and suspicions. 
R. W. Hacxwoop. 
Notes on Wife-Selling.— Can we blame our 
neighbours across the Channel for thinking us a 
nation of wife-sellers when, ignorant of our 
manners, and with feelings embittered by a long, 
war, they read such paragraphs as the following ? 
“A fellow sold his wife, as a cow, in Sheffield market- 
place, a few days ago. The lady was put into the hands 
of a butcher, who held her by a halter fastened round her 
waist. ‘What do you ask for your cow?’ said a bye- 
stander. ‘A guinea,’ replied the husband. ‘Done,’ cried 
the other, and immediately paid the money, and led away 
his bargain. We understand that the purchaser and his 
cow live very happily together.” — Doncaster Gazette, 
March 25, 1803. 
“On Wednesday a most disgraceful scene took place in 
Pontefract. A fellow of the name of Smith brought his 
wife from Ferrybridge, and had her put up for sale by 
auction at the market cross, at the small sum of twelve 
